Pupil, 6, cuts the ribbon
A schoolboy was front and centre at the unveiling of a new Home Bargains store in Hamilton on Saturday.
Six-year-old Dario Moyes-feeney from Motherwell was invited to cut the ribbon on the shop’s opening day at the Palace Grounds.
The Hamilton College pupil had written a letter to the retail chain’s owner and billionaire, Tom Morris, who was delighted to hear from him and arranged with the Lanarkshire area manager to have Dario there on the big day.
The new Home Bargains store has created 44 local jobs.
As part of its launch, £2000 was also donated to local charity Lanarkshire Association for Mental Health (LAMH), which provides community-based mental health services throughout the region.
This includes offering training to local businesses, running a charity shop, providing a mental health information service in Hamilton and a community cafe and wellbeing centre in Wishaw.
Proudly speaking of Dario’s initiative to write to Home Bargains, his grandfather Alex Moyes said: “Dario had seen the sign for the new store opening and said he wanted to go along and cut the ribbon.
“I asked how he was going to do that and told him he’d need to contact somebody. So he wrote to the owner of Home Bargains who is Mr Morris, and a few days later the area manager turned up at Dario’s house and told him that Mr Morris would like to invite him along to the store to do the opening.
“Unfortunately Mr Morris was up at the store on Friday and Dario was at school so they weren’t able to meet.
“So he went down on the Saturday to cut the ribbon. He loved the experience.
“It says a lot about Mr Morris that he was able to take the time out to read the letter from Dario and act on it.”
Dario has told all his school friends about his moment in the spotlight.
When asked what his favourite part about the new store is, Dario said he loves the toy aisle.
Scott Wylie, manager of the new store, said: “I started my Home Bargains journey three years ago as a manager, after working for Tesco for over 15 years.
“I am moving to this new Hamilton store from Forge Retail Park, and am delighted to be part of this new team.”
Scott added: “Hamilton will be a great location for us and we’re proud to be able to offer local people top-branded goods at exceptionally low prices.”