MIDDLESBROUGH-based fashion retailer Van Mildert is continuing an ambitious expansion plan, with the launch of its eighth store.

The new 2,800 square foot store will be the furthest south of the retailer’s stores, opening in Meadowhall shopping centre, Sheffield, at the end of the month.

Van Mildert is the top end designer fashion arm of the Delima Retail Group, owned by Middlesbrough based brothers Eric and Cyril Williams.

The Meadowhall store represents a £750,000 investment for the group and will create between 10 and 12 jobs for the city.

It will house Van Mildert’s key brands, including Stone Island, Hugo Boss, Pretty Green, Adidas Y3, Barbour and many more.

2011 has been a successful year for the fashion retailer – the seventh store opened in Princes Quay, Hull, just a couple of months ago, and Van Mildert announced a joint venture with Sir Tom Hunter at the start of the year.

Eric Williams said: “We are continuing our strategy of opening Van Mildert in out-of-town shopping centres and Meadowhall was the ideal next location for us.

“It’s a true destination shopping centre for the region.

“Delima already has a presence in Meadowhall. Another one of our brands, Tucci, has been successfully trading there for a number of years. Van Mildert will enable us to reach a different section of the consumer market, within the same retail environment.

“Sheffield is our second new store this year. We opened the Hull store in April and it is doing fantastically well.

“But we’re not stopping here, we have options on a couple of other locations and we’re intending to open at least one more store this year.”

With the opening of the Sheffield boutique, Van Mildert now has a retail website and eight stores across the North-east and North Yorkshire, the others being in Darlington, Durham, Metrocentre Gateshead, York, Harrogate and Hull.