One of Huddersfield’s major independent retailers is on the move.
Fashion store Peters is closing its King Street department store and moving to the Kirkgate end of the Packhorse Centre to occupy the former Bargain World store and next door RSPCA charity shop.
All 40 Peters-employed staff will make the move, although a number of concessions currently operating from Peters will go with the likely loss of nine jobs.
Peters will continue to sell items such as handbags, luggage, shoes and jewellery from the new store, using the 10,000sq ft of ground floor and basement space at the former Bargain World store which was previously home to Argos.
The former RSPCA charity shop next door will be transformed into a coffee shop with tables and chairs also outside on the Packhorse Centre mall.
David Whittle, of Peters, said the new shop would open on December 1 following a two-month shopfit while its current King Street premises will close at the end of January next year – enabling Peters to trade from both locations during the busy Christmas period.
Packhorse Centre landlord New River plans to revamp the 20,000sq ft Peters store at King Street to form two or three smaller units and develop the top floor as a restaurant. Mr Whittle said: “It is a grade A retail site because of its location and the landlord will have no problem letting it.”
Mr Whittle, who runs the business with his wife Caroline, said the four-storey King Street store was proving more and more expensive to maintain – making the business unsustainable on that site. The move to the new premises would reduce overheads as well as provide a more modern shopping environment for customers.
He said discussions with the landlord had been going on for some time, adding: “This is a great new opportunity. We see it as a very positive move. We have had discussions with the landlord, who has been very supportive, and with Kirklees Council who don’t want to see an independent coming off the high street,
“Our staff are excited by the announcement – for them it’s like moving house! We have also had great support from our suppliers.”
Mr Whittle said: “We think the customers will follow us. Being in that unit on that site will also provide a great opportunity to attract new customers.
The announcement follows the news that the neighbouring Kingsgate Centre plans an extension of its complex to provide a multiplex cinema and six restaurants with an entrance on Cross Church Street and connection to the existing shopping mall.
Peters opened its doors at King Street in 1982.
Three generations of the Whittle family have worked at the store, which was launched by Peter Whittle and is now run by David and Caroline with son Joseph also involved in the business.
Peter Whittle, who died last year aged 87, joined Kayes department store in 1948 in Huddersfield, following in the footsteps of his father, Ernest, and rose to become joint managing director alongside his brother, Alan.
When the store closed in 1982, Mr Whittle founded Peter’s and ran the business for many years – 25 of them alongside David – eventually becoming chairman.
Like his father, David trained at Schofields in Leeds, and also took a business studies course. Caroline was a 16-year-old Saturday girl when she joined Peters and started working full-time at the store as a management trainee, studying on day release at Huddersfield Technical College.
The store, which featured in a BBC documentary in 2007, focuses on fashion and interiors with clothing brands including Jacques Vert, Windsmoor and Planet, household textiles from Edinburgh Woollen Mill and shoes, handbags and younger fashion brands such as Dash, Moda in Pelle, Radley, Fiorelli and Gianni Conti.
The store also houses the 135-seater Coffee Mill restaurant.
