Dunelm is to open a major new store in Craigavon.
For the retailer is poised to become the latest in a long line of popular brand names to join the growing list at Rushmere Retail Park.
The Craigavon-based shopping complex will welcome Dunelm – which styles itself as ‘the UK’s leading home furnishings retailer’ – in the coming weeks.
It is due to take over two vacant units, which will be amalgamated to meet its needs.
The former B&M Bargains shop and Poundstretcher will be brought back into productive use.
It is expected to bring a healthy boost for local employment, with a range of full and part-time roles to be advertised.
An application has been submitted to Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council to facilitate Dunelm’s arrival.
It details “alterations to the shop front and rear facade” of Units 6 and 7 at Rushmere. The proposals also include the installation of a new trolley facility at the front of the store.
The application has been made by centre owners Killahoey Ltd, who have confirmed to Armagh I that the intended tenant is Dunelm.
The plan is to remove the internal wall between the former Poundstretcher and B&M Bargains store to create one large unit. A separate planning application for this had been submitted last year.
A ‘Certificate of Lawfulness of Proposed Use or Development’ has been determined with the permitted “amalgamation of two retail units into a singular floorspace” and the “installation of mezzanine floor”.
The front of the building will be glazed with a separate entrance and exit to be put in place.
The door was opened for Dunelm’s arrival when B&M Bargains relocated from Unit 7 to the former Home Base outlet last September. The move allowed the bargain store to increase the size of its premises and add a garden centre.
Poundstretcher, at Unit 6, meanwhile, had previously ceased trading at the site after more than a decade.
Dunelm offers a wide range of home-related goods, including furniture, bedding, curtains, lighting, decorating and DIY products, and kitchenware, as well as garden and travel accessories.
The company operates across the UK, with five stores already trading in Northern Ireland – two in Belfast, and one each in Ballymena, Coleraine and Derry/Londonderry.
The imminent new store, therefore, will be the first in County Armagh and a welcome addition to the Rushmere family.
The news of Dunelm’s opening comes after Armagh I revealed that the former Synge & Byrne outlet in the main Rushmere centre was to be extended and reopened as a bar and restaurant.
The tenant there has since been confirmed as Wingstop, which only opened its first location in Northern Ireland at Belfast early in March.
