New jobs are in store
AROUND 70 new jobs will be created following the opening of a £10m Asda Living store on Teesside Park this autumn.
The move follows a £14.5m investment earlier this year by the company in a new 55,00sq ft store at Portrack Lane, Stockton.
An Asda spokesperson said the continued popularity of Teesside Park in difficult economic conditions made it an attractive choice for its non-food business.
“Teesside Park is a very successful retail park and fits our Asda Living format, which we are rolling out across the UK,” he said.
Due to open on October 17, the new store will be housed in the former Homebase building at the retail park.
It will sell non-food goods including the George clothing range, homeware, health and beauty products as well as music CDs, DVDs, videos and console games.
Teesside Park said it was delighted to attract a “well-established” brand and confirmed there had been “no slippage” in footfall, despite the credit crunch starting to hit consumers’ disposable income.
Manager of the park, Mike Clarke, said: “Footfall has kept pace with last year. We currently attract 180,000 people each week on average, which is around plus or minus 1% on last year. We’re delighted to have such an enthusiastic tenant on board.
“Asda has been eyeing up the site for some time and will be arriving just before Christmas - traditionally a good time for retailers.”
MP for Stockton South, Dari Taylor, said the move was “great news” for the area and a “win-win” situation for businesses and consumers.
She said: “Asda will have worked out every detail to ensure that smaller retailers are not adversely affected.
“They are a good quality, ethical company that sells good quality products.
“Their move to Teesside Park will create enhanced employment opportunities and increase the volume of people coming to the park.”
Asda’s arrival means that Teesside Park will be fully let from October.
Having been hit by the departure of footwear retailer Lilly and Skinner earlier this year, it has lined up a replacement, shoe firm Deichmann, which is scheduled to move in next month.
Asda has already created 70 jobs at its new Portrack Lane store, which opened in May just a few yards away from the site’s original store.
This added to the 445 staff already employed at former Portrack Lane site.
Asda has plans to create more than 9,000 UK jobs through store openings, extensions and business expansion during the next 12-18 months.
But there are fears that the credit crunch, which has caused turmoil in the financial services industry, will cause further misery for retailers in the coming months.
Latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed that during June 2008, UK like-for-like retail sales fell by 0.4% on the same month last year.
Food and drink was the only sector to show significant growth, but that was against a weak June in 2007 - the wettest on record.
BRC director general Stephen Robertson said the negative results confirmed fears that a modest like-for-like sales growth in May was “a start-of-summer blip.”
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