A discount retailer’s new £500,000 store is set to open in Arbroath.
Home Bargains will unveil their latest outlet in the Abbeygate Shopping Centre on Saturday. The shop, creating 30 jobs, will become part a chain of more than 20 stores in Scotland.
The move should come as welcome news for the Angus retail sector, which has suffered a number of high-profile closures in the last few months.
Over the next year the brand plans to open 50 new stores across the UK and has also launched homebargains.co.uk, where customers can buy larger items.
Thirty former Woolworths outlets have been acquired by the firm, most of which are already open for trading.
Operations director Joe Morris said: “Home Bargains is excited to be opening this new store in Arbroath, building further on the success across Scotland.
“We’re thrilled to be in a position to offer local people even more top branded goods at exceptionally low prices.”
Homewares, health and beauty products, household items, sweets, snacks and alcohol will be on offer.AxedThe closure of Haldanes in Arbroath and Forfar saw 34 staff axed this summer and more jobs went at the Westway Retail Park in Arbroath, when national chains Focus DIY and Acorn Pets went under within weeks of each other.
Boarded-up or empty shops are now a familiar sight across Angus and residents have urged councillors to take action to encourage businesses to come into the area.
In April last year staff at the Birthdays/Thorntons store in Arbroath High Street were told they would no longer have jobs. Then in June the High Street lost another independent shop with the closure of Sporting Look.
In August yet another big name pulled out of the Abbeygate with the closure of Iceland, which occupied a prime site beside the Elgin Place entrance. DP&L Travel also pulled out of the High Street in March after 30 years.
Some business owners fear there will be further closures when the Asda store under construction in the west of the town is completed in November.
Home Bargains have ignored concerns over the increasing number of empty premises as they bid to provide competition for fellow discount retailer Poundland, which opened an Abbeygate outlet in June.
With more than 250 stores across the UK and over two million customers per week, Home Bargains is one of the country’s largest discount retailers. The firm is also known as TJ Morris and was established in Liverpool over 30 years ago.
Family-owned and run, it has now become one of the largest companies based on Merseyside, with outlets throughout the north of England, the Midlands, Scotland and Northern Ireland employing around 7000 staff.