Store reopens after overcoming flooding damage
A DERBYSHIRE store is celebrating its reopening after being forced to shut due to the devastating floods brought by Storm Babet in October.
Currys in Ravenside Retail Park, Chesterfield, was forced to close in October 2023 after floodwater surrounded the building, causing huge damage to the store’s interior.
Now, the team - due to their hard work and dedication - are back serving Derbyshire residents four months later. Water levels rose to as high as four metres and caused “irreversable” damage to the shop’s infrastructure, a spokesperson for Currys has said.
Mark Moore, general manager at the store, said: “We evacuated the store for the safety of our team and customers.
“You wouldn’t believe how quickly the water levels rose - it was so fast.
“We tried everything to reduce the impact but the water came so quickly, sandbags were simply useless.
“When we were able to get back into the store, everything was gone. It was devastating.
“Even more so knowing that we’d fully prepared for our busiest time of year, across Black Friday and the Christmas period, so had very high stock levels in preparation. It was all gone.”
Mark was at the forefront of what followed, leading the activity of redeploying his staff to other stores, liaising with the council and building trades to accelerate the store rebuild and - most importantly managing to keep spirits high amongst his team whilst working towards an eventual reopening which happened on schedule last week.
The management team devised an action plan to ensure none of the team were out of work, and they were deployed swiftly to four local stores. This included providing transportation for those unable to get to their redeployed shop.
Sales colleague Oliver Kershaw-Dickson said: “I felt that the redeployment was brilliant. It shows how we all win as one. The host stores were so welcoming and nothing was too much trouble.
“I couldn’t be prouder to be a Currys family member.”
The team celebrated re-opening its doors once again last Friday after what had been a tough period for Chesterfield residents.
Head of operational excellence Martin Raper concluded: “Teams from across the business worked tirelessly to look after our displaced colleagues, ensure our customers still had ways to shop and to restore this store not just back to how it was, but to something even better.”