New life for town's Woolies

Cooltrader, a growing British frozen food chain, plans to open a new branch in the town's High Street during the first week of November.

Trading director Andrew Errington says residents are being encouraged to apply for the jobs through their local Jobcentre or via www.cooltrader.co.uk

"I think choice for customers is Kingswinford is limited, with only one big supermarket where prices aren't particularly competitive," he said. "We want to bring big brands and low prices to the residents to offer something they don't have at the moment."

The announcement has prompted mixed reactions from town traders and councillors.

Kingswinford South Councillor Peter Miller, who also runs a hardware market stall, is delighted with the news.

"It will be great to see the shops occupied," he said. "It will benefit the whole of the town and hopefully draw people into Kingswinford. Anything which creates jobs in the current climate, when unemployment is rising, has got to be good news."

However, Julie Hubbold, assistant at Kingswinford Post Office, has concerns about the opening. "I hope it doesn't take trade off other people because there are a couple of other shops selling food as well as us and we don't want to lose customers.

"Hopefully our regular customers will stay and we'll just have to wait and see what happens." The firm, which opened in 2001, has 47 stores nationwide.