Lituanica to open its first store in Norfolk in June

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An Eastern European supermarket is set to open its doors on a King’s Lynn retail park in June creating 30 new jobs.

Lituanica will be moving into the St Nicholas Retail Park, North Lynn, and the new supermarket will specialise in imported Eastern European goods.

The store will also have a jewellery and hairdressing kiosk on a mezzanine floor and a cafe area for customers once final planning matters have been resolved.

It will be the ninth supermarket opened by the company, with several in and around London, along with one in Ipswich and another in Bedford and Birmingham.

Lituanica imports a range of 9,000 products from more than 500 suppliers in seven countries, including Russia, Poland and Lithuania.

Director Andrius Runevic said the company had wanted to open in Lynn because the area was home to a relatively high number of Eastern Europeans although he said other stores had also proved popular with English customers who liked to try different foods.

“British people like to buy herrings and we have some different spices as well. They like to try food that other Europeans enjoy,” said Mr Runevic.

He added that it was decided today the shop would be opening at the end of June - nearly a year since the planning application was first submitted to West Norfolk Council.

The family-run company first opened in Ireland in 2001 and moved to the UK in 2003 and has continued opening stores since.

“We are making every effort to supply good ethnic food in a responsible way. We achieve this by offering high quality products which are well researched and sourced and make it available to our wonderful customers at the best prices we can negotiate,” says its website.

The planning application for the new store attracted objections from residents in Sir Lewis Street concerned about noise levels associated with the unit being used as a supermarket.

But the proposal was approved with conditions that extraction units linked with the cafe were approved before being used.