First glimpse inside £50m Stourbridge shopping site
This is the first glimpse inside a £50 million shopping centre development which includes a new Tesco supermarket.
Work on the redeveloped Crown Centre, in Stourbridge, is entering its final stages with signage and art work already in place.
And officials from contractor Bowmer and Kirkland were opening the entrances to the town hall and library today.
A cafe and the new Tesco will be partitioned off for work to continue in preparation for the grand opening of the store on October 31.
Fittings are now being installed at the 60,000 sq ft supermarket, and equipment such as conveyor belts and checkouts are being put in place.
Stourbridge MP Margot James received a tour of the new centre and supermarket on Friday and it was the first time manager Sadie Griffiths, of Halesowen, had been inside the new building.
The mother-of-four started working for the supermarket chain in 1994 as a cashier at the Dudley store. She has worked her way up through numerous management positions and will be in charge of the day-to-day running of the new store.
"It was incredibly exciting to get a look inside the building for the first time," she said.
"I have obviously seen all of the plans but there is nothing like seeing inside the building for the very first time. "It was a real butterflies in the stomach moment and I can't wait to get started." She said the store would be taking on between 400 and 450 staff. Work on a 560-space car park is also nearly complete.
Miss James said it was 'hard not to be impressed' by the centre. "There has been a change in the town over this development. At first there were some concerns about it. However, now I believe there is a lot of optimism," she said.
