Homeware brand Wilko is to open a larger Chester store at the beginning of March.

Shop fitters are busy preparing the outlet to be located in the former Marks and Spencer menswear store in Foregate Street.

Hoardings are now advertising the opening date as Thursday, March 3.

The old store, which is further along Foregate Street, will close around the same time as the enlarged unit opens.

And the opening follows last November’s launch of fashion retailer River Island in the unit next door, which was also a relocation, from its previous Newgate Row address in Grosvenor Shopping Centre.

Wilko spokesman Peter Woodall said: "We love being part of the community in Chester and have been looking for an opportunity to offer our great product range, value and choice in an even better shopping environment.”

He confirmed that subject to completion of all necessary ‘fit-out’ arrangements, the current plan was for the new store to open on March 3, with ‘a seamless transfer' from the old store at that time.

The current Chester Wilko store in Foregate Street will close at the same time as the bigger outlet opens nearby on March 3, 2016.

Occupying 38,000 sq ft, the new unit will be about twice the size of the existing store and over two floors.

The former M&S, with entrances in Foregate Street and Frodsham Street, was vacated in March 2014 when the retailer consolidated its offer across the road in its other store.

And Blue Coast Commercial Investments was granted planning permission to subdivide part of the premises fronting Foregate Street, with separate entrances for the two different retailers.

The company wrote in an accompanying statement to Cheshire West and Chester Council: “The unit, having been vacant for some 10 months, does not currently contribute to the visual amenity of the area or the general vitality and viability of the city centre.”

They added: “The proposal will ensure the units meet both retailers’ and customers’ requirements. In addition, the scheme will sensitively improve and modernise the appearance of the unit in keeping and within the character of the conservation area.”

Splitting up the former M&S store overcame the difficulty in marketing such a large unit.