Major Sheffield homeware shop set to expand into food and drink
Officials approve change retail park store
A major homeware store has been given the green light to sell food alongside its usual home and leisure goods.
The Range, at the Drakehouse Retail Park, near Crystal Peaks can now go ahead with its plans to sell perishable food including cheese, meat and dairy products, a range of non-perishable tinned and packet goods, and a selection of non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks.
It would mean bringing in fridges and freezers.
But a condition of newly approved planning permission will ban it from selling a range of other consumer goods, and bans it from subdividing its floorspace into other shops.
The shop had previously been restricted in what it could sell by a previous agreement to stop it competing with other types of business at the retail park.
But in a report written before the new planning permission was granted, council officers said: “Given the limited scale of the proposed food offer and the imposition of a robust condition, it is considered that the unit would retain its primary function as a bulky goods retailer.
“It is also recommended that a condition be imposed to restrict the subdivision of the retail unit into separate units. This would ensure that the unit remains of a size and scale appropriate to its out-of-centre retail park location.
“The proposal is not considered likely to attract a significant number of additional visitors to either the retail unit or the wider retail park.”
However, the shop is still banned from selling clothing, footwear, sports goods other than bicycles, fashion accessories, jewellery, toys, or adding any more to the250 square metres of floorspace than is now approved for food.
The Range took over the site from Homebase last year.
The frozen goods would be Iceland products, the company has told council officials, as The Range has links to the company.
The Range had originally been restricted to selling certain items to protect other local businesses, but food was not one of the items that was in the list.
But before the new planning permission, it was only allowed to do non food retail.