Tech retailer Currys reopens store on Chesterfield retail park after four-month closure due to devastating flood

The Mayor of Chesterfield, Cllr Mick Brady and Mayoress, Cllr Suzie Perkins attended the relaunch ceremony at the Ravenside retail park. They said: “We were so pleased to see the reopening of the Currys Chesterfield store following the horrific flooding at the end of last year. It was exciting to be at the opening event last week, and meet all the team, very happy to be back. We are looking forward to members of the community coming to the retail park and checking out Currys’ amazing tech offering, especially following all the hard work, commitment and investment in getting the store up and running again.”

During Storm Babet last October, the Currys store was hit by floodwater which rapidly reached three metres high. Mark Moore, general manager, said: "We evacuated the store for the safety of our team and customers. You wouldn't believe how quickly the water levels rose - it was so fast. We tried everything to reduce the impact but the water came so quickly, sandbags were simply useless.

"When we were able to get back into the store, everything was gone. It was devastating. Even more so knowing that we'd fully prepared for our busiest time of year, across Black Friday and the Christmas period, so had very high stock levels in preparation. It was all gone.”

Mark was at the forefront of what followed; he led the activity of redeploying his staff to other stores, liaised with the council and building trades to accelerate the store rebuild and, most importantly, managed to keep spirits high amongst his colleagues.

Immediately after the flood, Mark based himself in a portable cabin outside the store where he worked alongside a team supporting the reconstruction ofthe premises and also serving customer needs. Several customers visited the cabin to order products for home delivery or ask for tech expertise.

Martin Raper, head of stores operational excellence, said: “Teams from across the business worked tirelessly to look after our displaced colleagues, ensure our customers still had ways to shop and to restore this store not just back to how it was, but to something even better. This really has been a huge team effort and the new store is now back and ready to help the local community again with all of their technology needs.”