THE North-Eastern Co-op has invested almost £600,000 in upgrades for three of its village stores in County Durham.

The shops at Coxhoe, Cockfield and Sacriston have all undergone modernisation.

The sales area of the Coxhoe store has been increased by 900sq ft to 2,100 sq ft, by extending into a neighbouring house.

The £240,000 refit has allowed the store to extend the range of products it sells, including wines and spirits and frozen food.

The store currently employs 11 staff but the upgrade will lead to another four employees being taken on.

The Cockfield and Sacriston stores have been relaunched as Welcome stores, which focus on fresh food and convenience products.

The Co-op has spent £146,000 revamping the Cockfield store.

As at Coxhoe, the store has been extended into a neighbouring property, which has doubled the size of the sales area to 1,400sq ft, and manager Monica Anderson is to employ a further four staff.

The Sacriston store, which has 22 employees, had £210,000 spent on extra fixtures which has allowed it to stock 1,000 grocery products, double the current total.

It and the Cockfield store have also increased their opening hours.

The Cockfield store is open from 8am to 10pm, Monday to Saturday, and from 10am to 10pm on Sunday, and the Sacriston store will be open from 8am to 10pm, every day.

North-Eastern Co-op chief executive Neil Arnold said: "We modernised 36 of our stores during the course of 2000, which represents an investment of £11m.

"A further £16m will be spent on extending and modernising another 19 outlets during 2001.

"The new Welcome format is proving to be very popular with customers and wherever we have introduced these outlets sales have increased dramatically.

"We fully expect the stores in Sacriston, Cockfield and Coxhoe to follow this growth pattern as a result of the work that has been carried out."