Exciting times ahead as popular Scunthorpe department store sold to new owners

Posted by nathan lloyd | Published: 08/09/2016

One of Britain’s oldest retail chains has a new offering on the high street after Central England Co-operative agreed the sale of the remaining six years of its lease on Westgate Department Store in Scunthorpe.

Family owned business Oldrids and Downtown has confirmed, subject to completion, that it has taken over the running of the popular shop for the remaining length of the lease and agreed to take on all colleagues that currently work at the store.

The sale will also mean that new jobs will be created in the coming months.

The company, which started trading in Boston in 1804, sells a range of goods including fashion, homeware, furniture, electrical, and garden across its six existing stores in Boston, Grantham, Lincoln and Gainsborough.

The sale, however, will not see the end of the link with Central England Co-operative as Co-op customers will still be able to book their holidays with Central England Co-operative Travel, which will remain a focal point of the store.

Marcus Meadows, Joint Managing Director from Oldrids and Downtown, spoke about the sale and the exciting future plans for the department store.

Marcus said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be taking on the department store which will; subject to completion, trade under our Oldrids banner from early October. Being a local man, I am aware of the store and its colourful history so there’s a real emotional buy-in from my perspective.”

“We have some exciting plans in terms of the layout of the store and the brands to be ranged and we aim to start to make this happen over the coming weeks. While ultimately we expect the Scunthorpe store to be predominantly fashion and homewares based, there will be an offer of furniture in place for the launch date which will help us to measure customer reaction.”

While an exact date is yet to be finalised, the store will be officially reopened under the Oldrids banner early in October when customers can expect lots of activities and promotional offers to welcome them to their newly branded department store.

The sale of Westgate Department store now means the Oldrids and Downtown business is made up of seven stores throughout Lincolnshire supplemented by a growing online business.

The move will also mean that the company now employs over 850 people, with some families having worked for the business for several generations.

More details about the store group can be found at http://www.oldrids.co.uk/

Notes to editors

About Central England Co-operative
Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK. It is a modern, forward-looking organisation employing over 8,000 staff, with projected gross sales of £958million for 2016/17. The Society recently celebrated being named Leading Co-operative of the Year 2016 by Co-operatives UK. The Society’s principal areas of activity are food, funeral services, and property. Central England Co-operative has more than 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including; West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.  The Society has an ambitious food store development programme for 2015/16.
Central England Co-operative is proud of its reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.  It is a member of Business in the Community, the membership organisation that stands for responsible business, and has also won many business awards for excellence.  The Society supports a number of charities including Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children and invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities.
For more information visit http://www.centralengland.coop follo,w Central England Co-operative on Twitter: @mycoopfood, and on Facebook: facebook.com/centralenglandcooperative
Rob Smyth / Jo Baldock at Central England Co-operative on 01543 414140
Email –publicrelations@centralengland.coop