Sainsbury’s has joined forces with healthy food and juice bar business Crussh as it adds to its menu of concession partners.

The grocery giant, which already has Argos and Habitat implants as well as Sushi Gourmet and Patisserie Valerie counters operating in some of its larger stores, opened its first Crussh shop at its Pimlico store this month.

The Crussh bar offers its full range of ‘fit food’, freshly made juices and smoothies and coffee.

It is the first Crussh counter to be opened inside a supermarket.

Filling space, driving footfall

Sainsbury’s, which acquired Home Retail Group for £1.4bn last September as part of its drive to adapt to rapidly changing shopper habits, is rolling out shop-in-shops to fill excess space and drive footfall.

The grocer hailed Crussh as “an innovative addition” to its portfolio of concession partners and said it was “pleased” with its initial performance.

Sainsbury’s director of fresh food Adrian Cook said: “We’re always looking for new and innovative ways to offer our customers an even greater choice of delicious, high-quality fresh food in our stores.

“This trial with Crussh is a great example of how we’re broadening and differentiating our in-store offer to bring our shoppers a wide range of the products they want, all under one roof.”