Chichester warmly welcomes newest The Range store

The long-anticipated opening took place at 9am this morning on the old BHS site on Westhampnett Road.

A huge queue of eager customers awaited the arrival of the chairman of the District Council, councillor Elizabeth Hamilton, to officially open the store.

The new Chichester store was welcomed by applause and cheers from the excited customers.

During the opening, Spirit FM ran a competition for one lucky customer to win an amazing £250 gift card.

The staff were also joined by Captain Range, the company’s own mascot to welcome customers to the store.

The new store, which is spread over two floors, provides great value products across 16 departments, including Arts & Crafts, DIY, Homewares and a large Furniture department. There is also a family café serving a wide selection of hot & cold food and drink and a large outdoor garden centre.

The store will be running product offers, as well as a café offer promoting 20% off when you spend £5 in the café from August 24 – September 9.

There are more celebrations taking place over the weekend with numerous free demonstrations and activities to keep the kids entertained; from Trimcraft & Design Objectives craft demos to Snazaroo face painting, you’ll be sure to find something for everyone.

The new store has provided over 80 full and part-time jobs, from store to department managers, warehouse assistants to retail administrators.

The new store manager, Laura Froggatt said: “We’re all very excited to be part of this new venture for Chichester and within the current retail climate it’s fantastic to be working with a brand that is opening so many new stores and providing so many jobs to boost the local area.”

Chris Dawson, the owner and founder of The Range said: “We are delighted to replace the former BHS with a branch of The Range in the town. We are certain that the jobs we have created will be a fantastic boost to the local economy and are sure to be a positive addition to the area.

He added, “The set-up and retail teams have been working around the clock to get the new store ready for the Grand Opening and I’d like to thank everyone for all their hard work and efforts. It was great to have many excited customers awaiting at the launch and we hope they all found some fantastic bargains”.