WH Smith feeds appetite for food-to-go with its first café

To many people, it is the place where you buy a book or magazine or to pick up some stationery. However, after 232 years in business, WH Smith has decided to open its first café.
The first Smith’s Kitchen officially opened on Thursday in Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton. The 26-seat, 495 sq ft café, featuring both takeaway and dine-in options, is set to be rolled out to other hospitals. It comes shortly after WH Smith launched an own-brand food range of 30 products, including sandwiches.
“Whether it’s in a hospital or on their journeys, customers tell us that quality food and drink options are what they prioritise most in the different locations we serve,” Andrew Harrison, WH Smith’s UK travel managing director said. “That’s why we have been doubling-down on our food ranges and formats.”
Established in 1792, WH Smith’s first store, a newsagent’s, was opened by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in Little Grosvenor Street, London. In 1848, the company opened the first ever travel retail store at London’s Euston station.
Travel is now the largest division in WH Smith, which operates 590 stores in Britain in airports, hospitals and railway stations. With passenger numbers increasing, the business is focused on becoming a one-stop-shop for travel essentials.
WH Smith’s hospital wing is one of the fastest-growing areas of its travel business, operating more than 140 stores and franchises in hospitals in the UK. Four new locations have been opened in the past eight weeks alone.
In June, the retailer said that its group sales had risen by 5 per cent in the three months to June 1, easing from an 8 per cent increase in the first half of the year. Turnover in its travel division grew by 8 per cent, boosted by a 15 per cent surge from its “rest of the world” unit.
The group’s high street business continues to shed sales as it battles to keep up with cheaper, online retailers selling small-value items, such as Amazon.
WH Smith shares closed up by 10p, or 0.8 per cent, at £12.25.