New store openings at wine retailer - graduate jobs

Graduates looking for a career in the food and drink sector have been buoyed by new store openings and potential graduate job opportunities at wine retailer Majestic.

Six new stores have been opened in Shrewsbury, Southend, Edinburgh, Market Harborough, Abingdon and Sale after the wine retailer reaped the rewards of its decision to cut the minimum bottle purchase from 12 to six.

With profits up by more than a quarter, Majestic has announced it is to open a further 12 stores in 2010 with long-term plans to increase its total number of branches from 153 to 250, potentially bringing a raft of store-level, graduate and management jobs with them.

The minimum purchase cut has seen customer numbers swell to 472,000 in the year to March, 54,000 more than before the reduction was introduced. Online sales have also rocketed to represent 10% of the group's overall sales.

Majestic Wine chief executive Steve Lewis said the upward trend in sales and new customers had been "consistent" since Christmas, but conceded it could prove difficult to maintain the rate of growth.