Scale of retail site revealed as recruitment drive starts
FOOTAGE of the first ever Trago Mills store in Wales shows the scale and progress of the site which is on track to open next spring.
The impressive video captures workers building on the 300,000sq ft site in Merthyr Tydfil.
Shot by Aerial Optics, the footage shows how contractor Kier has been powering ahead to get the site ready for its planned opening next year.
The new store – just off the A470 and opposite Cyfarthfa Retail Park – will also include a café, leisure facilities, a petrol station, among other planned facilities.
The firm sells about 180,000 products across 38 departments at its current stores, including furniture, gardening, sports, toys, fishing, kitchens, bathrooms, carpets, DIY, tools, motoring, electrical, clothing and footwear.
Its first store in Wales will be the firm’s fourth store, adding to three already in Devon and Cornwall. The discount retail firm was founded in the 1960s by Mike Robertson, father of current chairman Bruce.
The latest look at progress at the Swansea Road site comes after the news a recruitment drive will be launched next month to find 350 staff.
John Llewellyn, group operations director for Trago, said: “Recruiting 350 individuals across retail, warehousing, security and leisure, as well as admin staff, is a huge task, not least of which is getting the word out there when we’re ready to start the process and then assessing hundreds, potentially thousands, of applications in order to find the right people for the right job.”
He added: “It will be an exciting time for us and we’re delighted that we will be supported in the task by the team from the economic growth partnership, who have already worked with other retailers in the same way.”
Merthyr Tydfil council leader Kevin O’Neil said: “The partnership is very much about delivering economic regeneration through increasing employment, encouraging business growth and tackling social disadvantage.
“It contributes to local strategic aims in advancing Merthyr’s economic well-being and will underpin cross cutting approaches to tackle social deprivation as a result of industrial decline.”
Bernadette Jones, district manager, Jobcentre Plus south east Wales, said: “These are certainly exciting times for Merthyr and the surrounding valleys and Jobcentre Plus are looking forward to working closely with the Trago team in the recruitment of their workforce now and in the foreseeable future.”