Big name national book chain looks to open Sheffield store in city retail park
Signs has already been designed to fit into new Sheffield building
A major national retailer looks set to open a major book shop on one of Sheffield's retail parks.
Waterstones, one of the country’s biggest retailers, has drawn up designs for a signs on a building in the city, and one of them has been approved by Sheffield Council officials.
The company wants to set up a store on the St James Retail Park, on what would be a 382 square metre store at the site next to Bochum Parkway, Norton.
It would be located next to the Aldi, according the documents which accompany the design.
It would be the third branch of Waterstones in the city. There is already a store at Orchard Square, in the city centre, as well as one at the Meadowhall shopping centre.
The Star has approached Waterstones for more details of the plans.
Artists impressions show how the new shop could look with a Waterstones sign in place in what was until recently a Shoezone store in the centre.
Waterstones are one of the biggest names on the high street for books, since they were first set up in 1982 by Tim Waterstone.
On its website, the company says of itself: “Dedicated to bringing books back into the cultural conversation, Waterstone’s fusion of literary range, author events, iconic bookshops and gifted booksellers transformed the idea of what a bookshop could be.
In tandem with the steady growth of strong contemporary fiction and narrative non-fiction, the company moved from strength to strength, later under the direction of CEO James Daunt successfully fending off the threat of aggressive online competition and the brief rise of eReaders.”
They added: “Now trading across the UK, Ireland and Europe in over 290 shopping locations, Waterstones continues to thrive, each year actively pursuing a programme of new bookshop openings.”