The former Iceland store in Beeston town center has been empty for over 11 months. Now it will be open as an Asian supermarket. Oriental Mart, which opened its first Nottingham shop in 2008, has retaken the High Road location as part of its expansion plans to highly populated student areas.
Yan Liu from Oriental Mart said that “Beeston seemed like an ideal place for us” to open a store. With the tram here, new independent businesses, and a cinema opening, as well the University of Nottingham’s ever-growing international student population, it was also a great location. In the past 15 to 20 years, we have seen Nottingham become a more student-oriented city.
Oriental Mart was established in 2006 as an online family business that delivered products throughout the UK. The website grew in popularity and in 2008, there was demand for a store in Heathcoat Street in Hockley. This shop is now closed and being converted into a Mexican restaurant. In 2018, a second shop was opened on Goldsmith Street.
It is the largest Oriental retailer in Nottingham, stocking more than 3,000 products, including frozen, dried, and fresh products from countries like China, Korea, Japan and the Philippines.
The variety of produce available at Oriental Mart from various countries has received rave reviews. The website was recommended by The Hairy Bikers Asian Adventure Cookbook, a top Korean cooking website.
Innes England, a commercial property agency, landed the deal. Ross Whiting, associate director, said that the property was secured on favorable terms by Oriental Mart. Oriental Mart has been a long-standing customer and is well-known for its high quality products for a growing market.
“From being given a brief to source a property to negotiating terms and dealing the legal elements to handing the keys over, we handled the entire process. Beeston is a well-known area for students. We know that Oriental Mart is a major target market so the scale and location of the premises was a good fit for all parties.
After internal renovations are complete, the store will be open by March 2023 and employ 10 people.
Yan said, “We weren’t actively looking but when an opportunity presented itself, we decided it would be the next step in expanding our company.” We are looking forward to getting started and providing Beeston with high-quality Southeast Asian food products.
FHP Property Consultants represented the landlord. Oliver Marshall, director of FHP Property Consultants said that “It’s a thriving community with a bustling student population, making this a great place for the new tenants.”
This move is in addition to other high-street deals completed recently by Innes England. These include the relocation of Greggs, a popular food-on-the-go retailer, to larger premises in central Beeston.
