POOLE council economy chiefs have welcomed retail giant John Lewis’s announcement to open a new £6 million store in the town.

The new format shop, creating 100 new jobs, opens at Poole Commerce Centre, Branksome, in the autumn.

Poole council local economy cabinet member Ron Parker said: “This is absolutely brilliant news that a store of this quality wants to move to this location – especially at a time when the credit crunch is affecting the local economy.

“It is a boost, creating new jobs. It is warmly welcomed.”

The store, at the former Courts, Redlands Road, will sell products from its home sector, including electrical and home technology goods.

John Lewis managing director Andy Street said: “This is a significant departure for our business. Poole will be our first new format shop for 20 years. Like our full line stores the new format will bring our differentiated service, inspiring products and great value to a new market.”

The store, boasting 45,000sq ft selling space, will be a third of the size of a typical John Lewis store.

It will also include an espresso bar, customer collection and gift list service.

John Lewis new formats manager Karen Matthew, said: “The new format has been based on an enormous amount of research which showed us that there are areas of the country where consumers wanted to be able to shop at a John Lewis branch within a 40 minute journey of their home.

“We know our competitors have a much higher level of coverage in the UK than we do and our research has shown that there are growth opportunities for our business in smaller format shops, giving our customers more convenient access to John Lewis products.”

The retailer currently runs 27 full line department stores across the UK, stocking more than 350,000 separate lines.

More Poole News