H&M moving into old Woolies store in Southend High Street

2:00pm Friday 6th July 2012 in Local News

H&M moving into old Woolies store in Southend High Street H&M moving into old Woolies store in Southend High Street

A CLOTHING giant will be moving into the empty TJ Hughes store in Southend’s High Street, it has been revealed.

Bosses at H&M confirmed they will take over the large corner store in November, after a major refurbishment, taking the number of H&M stores in the town to three.

A spokeswoman for H&M confirmed there were no plans to close the other two branches, one towards the top of the High Street and the other in the Royals Shopping Centre.

She was unable to confirm how many jobs are likely to be created by the new shop.

Nigel Holdcroft, leader of Southend Council, said: “This new store is going into such an important and prominent site, it will definitely enhance the high street. Of course, anything that creates employment in the town is very good news indeed.”

The building was home to Woolworths, until the company went into administration in December 2008. It finally closed in January 2009 and discount retailer TJ Hughes moved into the building in August 2010, after a £1million refurbishment.

However, TJ Hughes went into administration and shut up shop, in August last year.

Despite the tough retail conditions, H&M has enjoyed an increase in its profits for the first half of the year and aims to increase the number of stores it has by 10 to 15 per cent.

H&M is known for up-to-the-minute fashion at affordable prices and has links with celebrity designers, including Madonna, Stella McCartney, Lanvin and Jimmy Choo.

Anita Thornberry, head of enterprise at the council, said: “We’re delighted such a big, iconic building in the High Street is being reused. It’s a show of confidence for Southend.”

Comments(12)

emcee says...
2:24pm Fri 6 Jul 12

Nothing like having a variety of shops in your local High Street to draw the shoppers. Unfortunately there really is no like variety in Southend's High St. That is why it is dying.

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Max Impact says...
2:29pm Fri 6 Jul 12

Still its better having somebody in there than having it empty attracting dossers.

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Blind Haze says...
2:36pm Fri 6 Jul 12

I think they should open a third McDonalds. It's got to be at least 100 yards to the nearest one and we can't expect their clientele to have to walk that far.

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meldrew84 says...
2:51pm Fri 6 Jul 12

Yeah cos that's just what our high street needs.... 3 of the same shop! :/

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Shoeburylass says...
3:05pm Fri 6 Jul 12

There's 3 Greggs... Glad it's H&M and nothing too discount though.

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Leighdweller says...
3:40pm Fri 6 Jul 12

Two branches of the same store almost opposite one another? Is that really going to work? Three in the same highstreet? I don't shop in H&M but I can't imagine that the demand will be that great for three stores. Perhaps I am wrong. I hope so.

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reptile says...
4:09pm Fri 6 Jul 12

I'm sure they will do a great trade in ladies clothing, unfortunately they all bring them back next day.

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pussycats says...
4:11pm Fri 6 Jul 12

His & Mine? Sounds good to me.

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Chymes81 says...
8:25pm Fri 6 Jul 12

Surely they must be thinking about closing down the other two, and combining them into one bigger store.

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southendshrimper says...
7:19pm Sat 7 Jul 12

good news, hope the other two can stay open.

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girlie71 says...
2:18pm Sun 8 Jul 12

I sometimes pop into h&m and its usually empty, however the pound shops and the other discount ones are heaving with customers ... such a shame that we are being bombarded with so many identical shops ... still its better than yet another Tescos lol

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Brunning999 says...
2:44pm Sun 8 Jul 12

'Fingers crossed'

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