GO Outdoors – the UK’s fastest growing outdoor retailer (w ww.gooutdoors.co.uk) – is to build a new store on Portrack Retail Park in Stockton on Tees creating more than 50 jobs. The store is scheduled to open in March with an official opening on Saturday March 28th.
GO Outdoors Stockton on Tees becomes the national outdoor retail chain’s thirteenth store and the North East’s first themed 50,000 square feet outdoor superstore featuring a six-metre-high family-friendly climbing wall.
In a break with traditional outdoor store layouts, customers will enter the new store through a walk through on a hand-made timber path. The themed area will also feature more than 4.5 tonnes of lime stone fashioned into a hand-built dry-stone wall.
The theming will continue with wooden rustic gate and stile and more than 1500 square metres of synthetic turf for the complete the ‘outdoors inside’ experience.
The centre piece family-friendly six metre high indoor climbing wall will allow customers to experience indoor rock climbing, before putting new footwear to the test on a range of different walking surfaces.
John Graham, GO Outdoors managing director, said,
“ We have big plans for GO Outdoors. And our new store in Stockton is an important part of those plans. We are transforming the UK outdoor retail experience by opening the UK’s biggest outdoor retail destinations. Whatever our customers need, we have thousands of products at guaranteed best prices perfect for everything from walking the dog to conquering K2; from camping in the lakes to cycling to work; from riding down mountain paths to going on a safari; and, from climbing the Three Peaks to fishing in Scotland.”
The new Stockton on Tees store announcement follows on from the outdoor retailer’s January announcement that it intends to create 1000 new retail jobs. By June 2009, GO Outdoors will have opened a total of five new stores since the £18 million refinancing package set up with Bank of Scotland Corporate in Spring 2008. And the planned expansion targets a company total of 30 stores by 2011.
Sheffield-based GO Outdoors will invest a total of £5 million in Stockton and two other stores in Pudsey and the South East creating more than 150 new jobs in the process. The outdoor retailer’s new expansion plans follow on from another two new successful store openings in the past three months in Wolverhampton and Bristol creating a further 80 new jobs.
GO Outdoors is now on target to operate 14 stores by the end of June – each store selling more than 20,000 big-brand price-guaranteed outdoor products.
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February 2009
GO0163 STOCKTON ON TEES OPENING
Filed under: GO Outdoors
