WHSmith convenience store at Warwick Southbound, situated between Waitrose and the toilet facilities, facing the main concourse, near the entrance. WHSmith’s obvious location means it’s popular amongst customers of the site. In addition to this, WHSmith remains open 24 hrs daily, so customers calling at uncivilised hours of the day can access the basic necessities of a service station (food, coffee, shower keys etc). WHSmith has been at Warwick South since around 2008/9, and when first opened, it was lots larger. Waitrose opening meant the Starbucks lounge & this WHSmith store were both downsized. WHSmith provides: F’real Milkshakes, Jolly Rancher slush, Krispy Kreme & StarbucksOnTheGo. The store seems small on this pic as its entrance isn’t very open, but it’s still fairly large inside, being able to cater for large crowds of customers. Its product range also doesn’t “spill out” onto the concourse, unlike many motorway WHSmith stores. When Warwick first opened in 1995, its shop would have been an own-brand Welcome Break shop, selling a similar product range to WHSmith (travel essentials, books, AdBlue and snacks). Following Moto’s success of replacing their own-brand convenience stores with WHSmith in 2006, Welcome Break and Roadchef followed, resulting in WHSmith being available at basically every British motorway services. Most motorists expect to find WHSmith at a British services, so the brand isn’t signposted/advertised much. WHSmith tends to be treated like an essential facility as opposed to a brand. WHSmith isn’t advertised much at Warwick South, & doesn’t have a mention from the outside of the amenity building, unlike many of the food brands here. This is because WHSmith isn’t an “exclusive” facility to Welcome Break. Instead, Welcome Break capitalise on brand partnerships such as Starbucks or Subway, which can only be found at Welcome Break sites along the motorway. WHSmith also isn’t signposted from the M40 Southbound, so customers won’t be informed of its presence here. WHSmith at Warwick South was closed during 2020 due to large refurb works. These works have been completed, with a reorganisation & tidy up of the store, and WHSmith’s new style. WHSmith was fairly busy during my visit, largely due to how busy Warwick Southbound was as a result of multiple coaches stopping at the site whilst I was here. Typically, Warwick South’s level of custom will determine how busy WHSmith is.

Photo taken on 24/06/2024 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Warwick, Welcome Break, M40, WHSmith