UK supermarket chain Asda, part of US retail titan Wal-Mart, has opened its first foodless supermarket.

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The company opened its first “Asda Living” store in Walsall, near Birmingham, in a bid to gauge customer reaction to the format, which will stock general merchandise goods such as DVDs, jewellery and clothing.


“It’s very much a pilot – no fanfare, no hype. We’ll be adopting the same approach as we have for our George stores, looking carefully at customer reaction,” an Asda spokeswoman was quoted by Reuters as saying.


Asda’s expansion in the non-food retail market comes amid increasing challenges to expansion in the food retail market, such as the continued growth of leading supermarket chain Tesco and competition authority opposition to any major food retail acquisitions.

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