The company is set to open the Ellon store under the rebranded name officially on Saturday, February 20.

Haldanes, whose trading logo is "Refreshingly Local", bought the store recently as part of a 13-store acquisition throughout the UK.
Other Co-op stores set for takeover in March include Fraserburgh.

A spokesman for the company said the Ellon store will close on February 17th for refitting and reopen as Haldanes on the Saturday,
The first batch of acquisitions by the new company came about after The Co-operative Group agreed with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT] to offload 133 outlets in centres where it already had stores, following its takeover of Somerfield earlier this year.

Ironically, Haldanes Chief Executive Officer, Graeme Hay, was born and bred in Ellon. Aberdeenshire-based entrepreneur Mr Hay is touted by the company as one of Scotland's leading grocery retail experts. He started his career with William Low before forming his own retail business in 1994 which he sold four years later to Aberness Ltd, one of Scotland's leading grocery wholesalers and retailers. In 2004, when Aberness was sold to Somerfield, Mr Hay was retained as a consultant while also building up his own property portfolio.

Mr Hay told the Times: "Obviously, since I am from Ellon, I am delighted one of the first stores to be open will be in the town. I still have a great attachment to Ellon and I look forward to the store providing a great service for local people."

The costs to the company for rebranding the store is estimated at £60,000 including IT costs.

Meanwhile, a spokesman said the store is eventually hoping to expand and may even hire more staff. Haldanes will source more than a third of its food and drink from local producers at each of its nationwide stores, the spokesman added.

Chairman, Arthur Harris said: "Our growth plans are that Haldanes will have a chain of around 50 stores within the next four years, which would mean our staffing level rising to about 1,200. Haldanes have three key words at the core of their trading policy – quality, fresh and local.

"Other supermarket groups have boasted a reputation for good quality products but we will go further than that; we'll be dedicating a higher percentage to freshly grown, local products. That policy with also extend to using local bakers and butchers as suppliers.

"In particular, stores in Scotland will include an enhanced range of Scottish foods,' said Mr Harris. 'And much of the Scottish-sourced produce will be sold in our English outlets too. We believe there is an appetite for such produce of real quality. It's a world-wide reputation, after all.'

"We also believe that local knowledge is essential and that is at the heart of our expertise. Our local knowledge is particularly important because it means that we able to tailor products to local tastes. Although some of the established supermarket chains have tried to source locally, we believe that that none has managed it effectively.'

The new company has pledged to engage fully with local community life at each of the stores, most of which are in market towns.
Mr Harris added: "We appreciate the role that shops like ours can play in local communities and it's our intention to give something back in return.

"For example, we would be keen to support local events and, quite simply, to be an integral part on the community. In some ways, we wish to get back to the days when the local store was at the hub of community life."