Summer opening date for Next at Shrewsbury retail park
A giant new Next store being built at a Shrewsbury retail park should open by summer, bosses said today.
Next has taken over the space at Meole Brace Retail Park previously occupied by failed electrical giant Comet and bosses are in the process of expanding the premises.
The former Comet store has been gutted with workers now involved on redesigning the shell of the building to accommodate Next.
When completed, the store will be more than 30,000 sq ft and will sell a wider product range than the current Next shop on the retail park, which is mainly focused on clothing and footwear.
As part of the expansion, a mezzanine floor will be created.
The firm intends to move into the larger site from July although an official opening date is yet to be confirmed.
Matt King, a spokesman for Next, said: "At the moment we do not know how many additional jobs this will create but all the staff from the current store on the retail park will transfer over to the new one once it has opened. The current store will then close."
Comet closed in December 2012, with 30 staff losing their jobs. It became the biggest high street casualty since Woolworths collapsed in 2008.
A report submitted in support of the plans for the expanded Next store stated the site would take almost £3 million each year from Shrewsbury town centre.
It estimated that of the expected annual turnover of £9.71 million for the new store, £2.91 million would come from the town centre with the same amount coming from both existing retailers on the Meole Brace site and other locations in Shrewsbury.
But it said this represented just one per cent of the turnover of traders in the town centre and would not effect the viability of businesses in the heart of Shrewsbury.
