A STALYBRIDGE store has been earmarked for closure after its chain was taken over.
Quality Save, on Melbourne Street, will close its doors in October after the business was bought by Home Bargains.
Rumours circulated staff had been told the shop will shut, while there was also talk it would be rebranded.
But after being approached by The Correspondent, the now owners confirmed the shop is set to disappear from the high street.
A spokesman for Home Bargains said: “The Quality Save store in Stalybridge is one of the stores proposing a close.”
As yet, TJ Morris, the parent company of Home Bargains, has not responded to The Correspondent’s request for clarity on the premises’ future or its reasoning for the decision.
Quality Save, which was based in Sale on the other side of Greater Manchester, was sold to Home Bargain’s parent company, TJ Morris, in January.
“We are pleased to confirm that TJ Morris acquired Quality Save with effect from January 26, 2023,” said a Home Bargains spokesman at the time.
“Our existing close working relationship makes Quality Save a great fit for the TJ Morris Group and we’re excited that we are now able to bring these stores into Home Bargains, increasing our store numbers and simplifying how we work.
“Quality Save becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of TJM Limited, which trades as Home Bargains.”
So, by this time next year, this stretch of Melbourne Street will have Quality Save closed; the old TSB bank closed; and the NatWest bank closed. Not an attractive prospect when you consider that the current work on Market Street is intended to create a ‘heritage walkway’.
Just a reminder that the ‘Weave’ festival in September is intended to ‘celebrate the town’s rich heritage, vibrant cultural scene, and cherished high street’ Some cherishing!
Not just Stalybridge closing 3 other small towns are losing their stores too. Chorley Darwin and Atherton. Atherton shop has been there 37 years customers depend on them lots of tears and frustration since the news broke some customers have been shopping in the shop since the day it opened and are worried about travelling on buses to leigh or Bolton. Its a crying shame another small high street is losing a good shop with lovely staff one has been there since day one. There’s nothing else in the town to visit now.