The Co-op has announced an exclusive partnership with Live Nation to become the first UK food retailer to have a supermarket at four major summer music festivals.

Download, Latitude, and Reading and Leeds festivals will all welcome the convenience retailer into their grounds for the first time.

The deal will see Co-op operate a 557sqm shop at each of the four festivals to cater for 200,000 festival goers. Each store will stock a wide range of items, including food, water, beer and wine, toiletries including medicines and, to cover all eventualities, both sun cream and rain ponchos.

Amanda Jennings, director of marketing communications, Co-op said: “This industry-first deal puts Co-op at the heart of festival communities this summer. It shows our ambition to reach out to new and younger customers, providing essential and quality products. Co-op is all about being close to the customer and it doesn’t get much closer than being right outside your tent.”

Melvin Benn, MD Festival Republic said: “We want festival-goers to have the best possible experience while at our events and are always looking for partnerships that enhance this. Having an environmentally-conscious food retailer like Co-op onsite will give fans easy access to all the products they need while at our festival campsites, while reinforcing our green principles. We look forward to working closely with Co-op throughout the summer.”

The festival stores will stock over two hundred products and will be re-stocked each day. The stores will open from 7am until 1am, be fully staffed and have a high number of till points. The Co-op will be located in the campsite area of each festival to make it easy to visit and stock up.

Co-op will support the partnership with a comprehensive digital and social media campaign, alongside PR and experiential activities. Co-op stores will be built and exclusively operate at the following festivals in 2018:

  • Download Festival, Donington, Derbyshire, 8–10 June 2018
  • Latitude, Southwold, Suffolk 12-15 July 2018
  • Leeds Festival, 24-26 August 2018
  • Reading Festival, 24-26 August 2018