Waitrose is the early festive success story as it puts pressure on major rivals

WAITROSE yesterday emerged as an early winner of the festive season with like-for like sales jumping more than 5 per cent both before and after Christmas Day.

The middle classes' supermarket of choice revealed like-for-like sales rose 5.4 per cent during the crucial 23 days to 23 December. This growth accelerated between Christmas and New Year as demand for Champagne and party food drove same-store sales up 5.9 per cent.

The chain, which has taken the supermarket sector by storm ever since the launch of its "essential Waitrose" range in 2009, set the pace for the other major supermarket chains - several of which are due to update on festive trading next week including Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury's.

On the back of recent strong sales, Waitrose managing director Mark Price announced the chain will almost double its rate of store openings this year, creating some 3,000 jobs in the process.

It plans to open 39 stores across the UK over the next 12 months - including its fourth Scottish supermarket in Glasgow's Newton Mearns area. Waitrose first set up shop north of the Border in 2006 in Edinburgh's Morningside and Comely Bank.

The firm, part of the John Lewis Partnership, will open 12 full-size supermarkets in 2011 and 27 smaller high street convenience stores.

While it was only able to confirm one Scottish location yesterday, a Waitrose spokesman said the company was hunting for further sites north of the Border - including for its convenience store format.

"We are certainly continuing to look at sites across Scotland," he said. "While it (our expansion north of the Border] has been slow, it is certainly one of our key areas."

Like many of the other big supermarket chains, the firm has latched on to the potential offered by the fast growth convenience store sector, which is worth close to 30 billion a year. It opened its first in north London in December 2008 but now has 12 of the smaller format outlets. The chain has rapidly expanded its roll-out over the past six months in particular; seven of the 12 convenience stores were opened in the second half of last year.

Waitrose has also gone to battle with the big names on price. It has committed to selling 1,000 branded products at the same price as market leader Tesco.

Mark Price, Waitrose managing director, said: "Our strong Christmas trading figures give us confidence for the year ahead, when we will be continuing to invest in the future growth of our business."