Plea for store chain to help find top-name occupant for old base

RETAIL: Irish firm urged to work with shopping centre owners and local authority to attract new tenant as quickly as possible

Fife Council is calling for support from a retail giant to help fill the gap left by the closure of its Glenrothes store.

As Glenrothes marks its 70th anniversary a host of investments are planned to try to revitalise the town.

Now, following the recent closure of the Dunnes store in the Kingdom Centre, the local authority is asking the retail chain to help attract a major retailer into the vacant unit.

Labour councillor Altany Craik wants the Irish company, which is closing all six of its Scottish stores, to work with Kingdom owners Mars LaSalle and the local authority to attract a new tenant as quickly as possible.

The economy convener said: “Glenrothes offers a great opportunity for new and expanding businesses to locate and thrive.

“Hailed as the town of the future when it was planned in 1948, a host of town centre developments are now under way to benefit Fifers and create new jobs.”

He has written to Dunnes managing director Frank Dunne seeking help.

“Fife Council is calling on Dunnes to help deliver an innovative joint marketing campaign to find a new anchor tenant for the Kingdom Centre, to ensure vibrancy is maintained and to further boost and regenerate the town centre,” he said.

Fife Council is working with PACE to provide former Dunnes staff with advice on how best to find new employment.

A wave of investment means commercial interest is growing in the town centre. These include:

A £500,000 investment by Fife Council to create Glenrothes Enterprise Hub, bringing new businesses into the town centre by providing space for business tenants, meetings, events and hot desking;

A £10 million retail/leisure development by Easy Living Development is being built, bringing Marks & Spencer Simply Food as a flagship store to the development, and 100 to 150 jobs.

The development of the Queensway Technology and Business Park, a £1.17m development by Fife Council;

A £500,000 environmental improvements programme expanding pedestrian and cyclist mobility;

Social investment by the Baptist church to bring a long-term vacant office building back into use, creating a community hub and a place of worship;

A £20m district heating system that will service industrial and commercial premises as well as Fife Council’s office buildings, using renewable heat from RWE’s biomass power plant.

Glenrothes offers a great opportunity for new and expanding businesses to locate and thrive.

COUNCILLOR ALTANY CRAIK

Picture: Steven Brown. The Dunnes store in the Kingdom Centre in Glenrothes has closed its doors, along with all six of the Irish-based retailer’s other shops across Scotland.