National store to open in Newbury

JoJo Maman Bebe is to open an outlet in Northbrook Street and it will become one of the company’s largest stores

A LEADING maternity and children's clothes company has announced Newbury will be the location for its second store in the county.

JoJo Maman Bebe is to open an outlet in Northbrook Street and will become one of the company's largest stores.

The Newbury Weekly News reported in May that the business was considering opening a unit at the new development in Parkway, but has instead chosen to settle in a 1,300 sq ft store in Northbrook Street, replacing the old Oxfam shop.

Marketing Director at JoJo Maman Bebe, Emma Brannan said: “We did look at the Parkway development but saw that lots of retailers were moving from the main shopping streets into the development, and so we chose to open on Northbrook street, as one of our main aims when opening stores is to regenerate local high streets, which currently have lots of vacant units due to independents succumbing to the recession and major retailers moving into shopping centre developments.”

The store, which will be the second in Berkshire in addition to the Windsor branch, is due to open next month and will create five jobs to the town.

Mrs Brannan said: “We chose Newbury because we have many loyal online customers already in the area and wanted to give these customers the opportunity to also shop in one of our stores, where they can see our collections, try on maternity clothes and get advice from our store teams.

“We are halfway through recruiting and are looking for five members of staff in total, working full-time and part-time hours.”