You Can Do It kosher

DIY giant B&Q has opened its first kosher kitchen showroom in a bid to entice Jewish customers.

The chain's Cheetham store in north Manchester put the finishing touches to its model kitchen, complete with Hebrew signage, to be ready to woo customers this week. It includes two sinks, two ovens and separate hobs so customers can separate meat and milk food preparations according to Jewish law. It is the first branch in the UK to trial the marketing strategy and was prompted by the store's in-house kitchen design manager who received many enquiries from Jewish shoppers. The store is only a mile away from Broughton Park, the most concentrated Jewish community outside London.

Kitchen showroom manager Steph Moores conducted customer research into kosher needs but she said interest from one Jewish person was key to the display.

"Our sign maker had labelled the Hebrew lettering so we knew which way to stick it but as we were putting it up the backing paper fell off. Fortunately a Jewish customer was able to give us some direction. We've been receiving interest from customers ever since."

Duty store manager Ian Touch said the free kosher kitchen design service is part of his branch's variety of culturally tailored services, which include a store map in Chinese, Polish and Hebrew as well as English.

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