Some good news came to the city’s troubled Forum Shopping Centre with the opening of a new Poundworld store.
Although surrounded by empty units, the new discount centre has taken over one of the biggest units in the Forum, previously occupied by Somerfield and the Co-op.
Thirty new jobs have been created at the Chester branch which officially opened on Thursday (April 3).
The opening came on the day the Xtra’s sister paper The Chester Chronicle highlighted the problems the shopping centre has had in attracting new businesses.
This partly because it is well known Cheshire West and Chester Council want to use the site as part of its long-delayed Northgate Development scheme which was revived last year.
A council spokesman said: “We will be doing everything within reason that we can to increase the footfall and the number of tenants in The Forum and will be looking at the best ways to do that.”
Poundworld, which was recently the subject of BBC1 documentary Pound Shop Wars, provide savings on leading brands such as Cadbury’s, Coca Cola and Johnson’s.
The family-owned retailer says more than 5,000 products are priced at just £1, offering shoppers a ‘value’ alternative to other high street chains.
Chris Edwards Junior, trading director at Poundworld, said: “We already have a store at Broughton Shopping Park but we’re delighted to be opening our first store in Chester city centre at the Forum Shopping Centre.
“As a British family-run business, we have a loyal following of over two million bargain hunters that shop with us nationwide every week and we’re sure that our new store in Chester will be a big hit with bargain shoppers in the city.”
