The store has opened in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, creating 17 jobs. A second Asda Express store will open at Tottenham Hale next month, following by 30 sites next year, creating around 500 jobs.

Mohsin Issa, Asda’s co-owner, said: “The launch of our first Asda Express convenience stores is a landmark moment and a key step on our journey to bring Asda to more customers in more communities right across the UK. The stores have been designed to cater for a broad range of customer needs, whether that’s popping in for a pint of milk, grabbing a spot of lunch on the go, or buying the fresh ingredients to cook dinner from scratch.

"We’re confident customers will find everything they need in these stores and enjoy the convenience of having a new type of Asda store on their doorstep.”

The new Asda Express stores are wholly owned and operated by Asda. They are separate from the Asda On the Move convenience sites, which are located on garage forecourts owned and operated by EG Group.

They are also separate from the 132 convenience stores that Asda has acquired from the Co-op Group. This deal is currently going through the CMA’s competition review process.

Asda opens first ‘Asda Express’ convenience store as part of strategy to create 500 jobs