Town store to stay open
NUNEATON is set to keep a budget shop amid uncertainty surrounding the store’s future.
There had been concerns that another large store in the town centre was set to close but those worries have now been quashed.
The former 99p Stores shop in Queens Road, which has now been converted into a Poundland, will be staying open, it has been confirmed.
Budget retailer Poundland tookover 99p Stores in late 2015. It started to rebrand the existing stores as Poundlands but has now placed 99p Stores into administration and 60 will be closed. Eyebrows had been raised about the future of the now Poundland branch in Queens Road as shoppers noticed that the stock had been diminishing in recent weeks, with some shelves being almost empty.
Many feared that the discount trader would follow in the footsteps of TJ Hughes and Woolworths which both, at one stage, occupied the large store but then left.
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, which owns the building, began discussions to try and stop the shutters being pulled down on the prominent store.
The store will not be closing and is even undergoing a refit and stocking clothes, with a Pep & Co shop within the existing store.
Council leader Cllr Dennis Harvey said they were pleased to have kept the name in the town.
“99p stores are closing all over the country as part of the company’s national rationalisation programme,” he said.
“I am glad that we have been able to prevent that happening here in Nuneaton, it’s a positive reflection on the town and the strong partnership between the council and retailers.”
Alarm bells initially sounded about the store’s future when it was first announced that Poundland was taking over the 99p brand.
At one point, the town centre already had two Poundland stores; one in Abbey Street and one at the former M&S building in Market Place.
The Abbey Street branch was eventually closed but the former M&S store and 99p Stores have continued to trade ever since.
Now the Queens Roadbased store looks set to be given a new lease of life.