AN OPENING date for a Poole retail park’s newest retailer has been confirmed for next month.
Hobbycraft, in Poole Retail Park in Branksome, will swing its doors open for the first time on Wednesday, September 13.
The new arts and crafts shop has created 15 new jobs in the area and is only the second shop in the whole of Dorset for the Christchurch-based company – the other being in Longham.
To celebrate the new site, Hobbycraft will be hosting a grand opening event at 9am on Saturday, September 16.
The first 100 customers will receive free goody bags and live crafting demonstrations will be held throughout the day.
Store manager Liam Arscott said: “We are really looking forward to opening the doors to our Poole store and sharing our passion for arts and crafts with the local community.
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“Over the last few years, we have seen more people than ever take up crafting and we want to encourage locals to come down to the new store and share their crafting experience.
“We look forward to providing Poole customers with the ultimate retail experience, combined with fantastic crafting products at great prices.”
Along with the expected baking, home craft, models and more, Hobbycraft in Poole will also offer craft workshops, a digital cutting area and a haberdashery area.
The new Poole store will be open Monday to Friday 9.00am to 8.00pm, Saturday 9.00am to 6.00pm and Sunday 10.00am to 4.00pm in the old Carpetright unit.
Hobbycraft, which has headquarters next to Bournemouth Airport and was founded in 1995, has 100 shops across the country and stocks up to 35,000 different arts and crafts products.
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Its stores provide a range of materials and equipment used for weddings, needlework, card making, fine art materials and framing, as well as selling kits for models and knitting.
At the time it was scouting for new locations in Dorset, the retailer said it assessed a number of alternative locations to open its new shop, including Alder Road, Ashley Road and Bournemouth Road, but the empty unit in Poole Retail Park was the “preferable site to accommodate the proposed development”.
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