Jobs boost for Shrewsbury as furniture firm expands
An expanding Shrewsbury furniture company is creating up to 30 new jobs with the opening of a major new store in the town centre.
Turners Furniture opened a small store in the Pride Hill Shopping Centre just before Christmas but it has been so successful that they have now also taken over larger premises in the adjoining Riverside Centre.
Their new store is in a 40,000 square foot unit which formerly housed T J Hughes and it opens for business on Saturday.
It is part of a major expansion by the family firm which was founded in 1976 and which has gone from strength to strength in recent years.
The firm, based on Shrewsbury’s Arrowpoint Way Retail Park, currently have five stores and employ 40 people but the expansion into the former T J Hughes premises will take that total up to 70.
The company, who specialise in high quality discount furniture, are bucking national trends and expanding and are even planning more new openings.
Managing Director Alan Turner said: “We are opening in the Riverside on Saturday with 40,000 square feet of retail space and this will create between 25 and 30 new jobs.
“We will be providing everything there. It will be a one-stop furniture store which will also sell carpets.
“We opened a small store in the Pride Hill Centre before Christmas and it has done so well we decided to go for this shop but we will be keeping the smaller stpore on as well.
“We have attracted so many customers, particularly from Wales, that it was obvious that a bigger store could do even more business in capturing the market in Shropshire and Mid Wales.
“We made the decision to move in to Pride Hill Shopping Centre in Shrewsbury to capitalise on people visiting a busy area of the town.
“There’s a lot of passing trade. It’s a very busy area and that persuaded us to take on a bigger store as well.
“We’re busier than busy. Over a five-day trading period before Christmas we made 1,800 sales at our stores.”
Russell Hall, Operations Manager for the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centres, said: “It’s great news that Turners Furniture are already opening a new, bigger store here only weeks after they opened in the Pride Hill Centre.
“It’s a real vote of confidence in the shopping centres and in the town of Shrewsbury and it’s brilliant to see a local firm doing so well and creating employment.
“Their record of expansion is fantastic and they are a real family firm, employing local people and offering a good product and they add to the mix of retail which we have throughout the Shrewsbury shopping centres.”
