As one door closes...
New Next concept store but a town branch goes
It was a bitter-sweet moment for Maidstone shoppers this week as retail giant Next opened its concept store on the outskirts of town – but shut up shop in the centre.
The Fremlin Walk branch was closed at the weekend, with staff and stock moved two miles to the new site at Eclipse Park which opened yesterday (Thursday).
Its Mall Chequers branch will remain, in readiness for the centre’s £100million transformation which is due to start next year.
Hundreds of eager shoppers flocked to the Bearsted Road store on the first day of trading, with the 170-space car park full within half-an-hour of doors opening.
More than 50 people queued to be the first to see the stand-alone store, just off junction 7 of the M20, which houses an extensive homeware range alongside clothing, kitchens and a Costa Coffee.
The retailer first approached landowners Gallagher Properties two and a half years ago and construction was completed within 11 months.
It’s been more than two-and-ahalf years in the making but the latest addition to Maidstone’s shopping scene has launched.
A three-floor £10 million-plus branch of retail giant Next was officially opened to the public yesterday (Thursday) in Eclipse Park, just off Junction 7 of the M20.
It replaces the shop at Fremlin Walk which closed on Saturday, with staff transferring across.
About 50 shoppers were outside teh new shop patiently waiting for the doors to open at 10am.
All the store’s 170 car park spaces were full within the first half hour.
So far, it has created a mixture of 100 full and part-time jobs, although this figure is set to increase.
The new 40,000 sq ft superstore was proposed to park owners, Gallagher Properties, in May 2012 after the construction company rejected a suggested CostCo warehouse three months earlier.
A 15-year lease was secured by Next Plc and work started on the site next to the Hilton Maidstone hotel, just off Bearsted Road, in December last year.
A Gallagher Group spokesman said: “The store is not a ‘crinkly tin box’. It has been built to a high specification utilising brickwork, curtain walling, limestone cladding and Kentish Ragstone.”
The store will provide homeware, DIY products and fashion and will be complemented by a branch of Costa Coffee.
Store manager, Nicky Smith, said: “We’re thrilled to open this store in Maidstone.
“After months of planning and hard work our customers have a brand new concept store.”
Gallagher Group chief executive, Nick Yandle, said: “After just two-and-a-half years since first contact the vision Next have for their business and Gallagher have for Eclipse Park is before us.
“Gallagher is proud to have played its part in delivering such a great development which provides new employment opportunities for dozens of people.”