New life for former Woolies

Retail giant Sports Direct is set to rent the unit which the Woolworths branch occupied until January when the much-loved and iconic chain collapsed.

The shop unit on Gaolgate Street has now been empty for three months but it is due to reopen as a Sports Direct in the coming weeks.

As a result the company, which sells discounted sports clothing and equipment, is creating a number of much-needed local jobs and is holding a recruitment event at Stafford's Gatehouse Theatre tomorrow. Anyone interested in the casual staff positions available can attend the event between 9am and 4.30pm.

Sports Direct operates both as an online catalogue from its website and as a high street retailer, with more than 350 branches across the UK. It also owns other brands including Gilesport, which has a shop in Lichfield.

Ian Hughes, from Birmingham property consultants Rowley Hughes Thompson which is letting the store to Sports Direct, said the unit was initially being leased on a short-term basis of up to six months but he expected Sports Direct to remain in the shop if the venture proved successful.

Mr Hughes added that the opening date for the new shop had not yet been confirmed but he expected it would be "in the next month or so".

Rowley Hughes Thompson had previously offered to break the large 20,000 sq ft store, which extends back to Stafford Street, into smaller units. However, Mr Hughes said Sports Direct was taking over the entire shop.

The news comes after it was revealed that another new retailer, Country Casuals, is set to open just down the road from the former Woolworths Store on Greengate Street. The fashion chain, which is due to open soon between Starbucks cafe and WH Smith, is also looking for a number of part-time sales assistants.

The news means that Stafford's former Woolworths store is one of only two in the West Midlands to have found a new tenant.

Last month, an Express & Star investigation revealed that out of more than 15 Woolworths stores in the Black Country and Staffordshire, only the Blackheath branch had been snapped up by a new buyer, Hull-based Heron Frozen Foods. However, there has been talk of "strong interest" in the former Woolies sites in Lichfield and Cannock.