Smith Street post office to be turned into grocery store

Former Smith Street post office, that has been shut since spring this year, will soon be turned into a grocery store, stated recent media reports.

The building has been empty since Guernsey Post closed the main Town office. As per reports, Sandpiper is expected to open a new grocery store in the building.

The franchise previously ran the Food Hall close to the White Hart in the Pollet, stated reports, adding that it, however, got closed when the building was refurbished a few years ago.

Currently, there are medium-sized food shops in the centre of Town – with two Co-ops and an M&S food branch, while the large supermarkets are a couple of miles outside the Town centre.

Since Sandpiper holds the franchises for Checkers Xpress, Morrisons and Iceland, it is still not confirmed which food shop the building could become.

In the planning application, architect Andrew Male said it was hoped the shop would reduce people travelling.

“The proposed works to fit-out an empty shop in Town will enable more options for shoppers to carry out their shopping in one visit, without travelling around the island, thus reducing fuel-based carbon emissions,” he wrote.

“As the shop will be selling groceries, it will also assist and encourage living in the centre of St Peter Port, reducing the need to travel out to find such products.”

The building is listed, but the application states that there are only very limited internal alterations planned, which would enable the ground floor to be fitted out as a shop. The existing blockwork floor – which is not original and is in a poor state of repair – would be removed and replaced with a non-slip vinyl floor, reports said.

After the closure of the post office, the postal service was moved to a Co-op Store in the Market Buildings. A new Post Office counter was also set to open at the Co-op’s Royal Terrace store on Glategny Esplanade, which was deemed as a possible “postal hub” for business services.