While many sectors of retail are struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, the Co-op is the latest supermarket to expand.

The supermarket and convenience store chain, which has stores across the county, will create 1,000 new jobs as it opens 50 new stores, as reported by The Guardian.

It is also set to expand 15 stores as part of a £130m investment. The new jobs will be spread across the new and expanded stores.

A further 12 franchised stores, with Co-op branding but owned by others, are also set to open in 2020.

The Co-op has already given permanent jobs to 1,000 of 5,000 workers brought in to cope with an increased workload at the height of the Covid-19 lockdown.

The Co-op currently employs 55,000 staff across its 2,600 UK stores.

A report by Waitrose found that the number of UK shoppers doing a weekly grocery shop online has doubled since lockdown.

Many of the Co-op's new workers will be employed to deal with online orders. Co-op staff assemble orders within supermarkets, rather than rely on central fulfilment warehouses.