You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
The Works to set up shop in Edinburgh retail park
A branch of The Works is to open in Edinburgh's Straiton Retail Park, coinciding with the reopening of bookshops across Scotland on 26th April, The Bookseller can report.
The new site of the deep-discounting chain, specialising in books, toys, gifts, stationery and arts and crafts, will be located in the terrace, a recent extension of the park. The shop will occupy a 3,000 sq ft premise, stock The Works' full range, and include a double frontage. Building work is currently underway, with the opening date set for the end of April, in line with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's recent easing of restrictions. "The minute the retail world reopens, we hope to have this nice new shiny store opening too," said Jeremy Smith, property director at The Works.
The build comes as part of a longer-term company plan. In October 2019, the company reconsidered its previous strategy, which had involved opening 60 stores a year, and instead decided to focus on its existing estate and open 20 stores a year. The pandemic slowed progress: only six shops opened in 2020, including a relocation in the Scottish town of Paisley, and new sites in Wickford, Market Harborough and Rushden Lakes, a retail park outside Northampton.
The Straiton shop will be the chain's largest in Edinburgh; it also has a smaller site on Princes Street, and a few outlets in the suburbs.
Of its 530 stores, only 20 are situated in retail parks, and though the company is looking to move into more parks, Smith said The Works will not absent itself from the high street.
He added: "We were very much weighted towards high streets, shopping centres and garden centre concessions already. We had opened a few and they had been very successful, and we were going to open a few more. It's been proven during the pandemic that these are the sorts of places customers like to go to, so we will continue to do a few more, I should think. We're not going to be moving away from the high street stores—our high street stores provide a very valuable service to our customers."
