What next for 'prominent' Chesterfield town centre site as Co-op Food closes?
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Bosses at Co-op Food, on Elder Way, admitted they were quitting the town centre yesterday because of ‘a decline in sales’ and expected further losses in future.
The Co-op joins the TJ Hughes department store, which closed its doors last week, although several new independent shops have been attracted to the town centre.
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Hide AdPeter Swallow, chair of Destination Chesterfield, said: “While it is extremely sad that the Co-op Food store will no longer have a presence in the town centre, I am confident that, like its neighbouring department store, it will open up further opportunities for investors in the town.
“The closure of the Co-op department store led to the redevelopment of the building by Jomast into a thriving Premier Inn hotel last year and plans are afoot to further develop the iconic building into a new leisure quarter for the town centre.
“A significant amount of money is also being invested into Northern Gateway, creating, shops, offices, hotels, cafes, bars and restaurants.
“Given the Co-op food store’s prominent position in both the town centre and Northern Gateway, I am confident the building will attract interest from investors.”
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Hide AdChesterfield residents took to social media to share their memories of the store and many were also positive about the town centre’s future.
Katie Sarah Davis, who owns a business on Elder Way, said footfall had declined before the new multi-storey car park was built.
“Things are definitely on the up now and improving but I guess they have targets to meet and they won’t have hit the targets, hence why its closing down. It's sad.”
Margaret Stokes said: “I worked in the food hall for 25 years, both in the old shop and the new one, it was always busy then and we celebrated the centenary and Elder Way was closed off to all traffic as we had a street party, l still have my centenary brooch.”