Stans Superstore in expansion

An independent Shropshire supermarket is expanding its operations over the Welsh border, creating at least 20 jobs, following major investment.

Stans Superstore, of St Martins, Oswestry, is to open a new store and fuel station in Llangollen.

Negotiations for the site, beside the A5 road in Llangollen, have been completed after almost 30 months, Andrew Faulks, a partner in Stans, confirmed today.

The cost of the new store is being kept under wraps, but the development is expected to involve a "seven figure investment" for the company in a move which will create full and part-time jobs.

"Work on clearing the former garage site should be completed by the end of June and construction work is expected to take five or six months, so we plan to be open before Christmas," said Mr Faulks.

"We are very excited to be moving into Llangollen and look forward to serving such a popular and vibrant town."

Construction work will be carried out by Jones Brothers, builders of Weston Rhyn, Oswestry, a company which has carried out a lot of development work for Stans.

Planning consent has been obtained for a 3,000sq ft store and an eight pump- filling station on the site of the garage, formerly run by Cyril Hughes. The garage was closed following Mr Hughes's death nine years ago and the site has been standing empty since then.

Mr Faulks said the only draw-back to the site was a relatively small number of parking spaces. He said: "But the site is close to Llangollen's main 250-space car park."

Mr Faulks thought about half a dozen staff from the St Martins store would transfer to Llangollen but the remainder of the jobs would be filled locally.