After undergoing major redevelopment, Barkers Furnishing Store will unveil its £3m expansion in Northallerton, North Yorkshire on 19th March. The revamp will also see a change of name to Barkers Home.
The store has been expanded by 20,000 sqft to 60,000, to create a section for contemporary furniture, a bigger linens department, new cookshop and gifts section, while there has also been a revamp of the first-floor bedroom furniture and soft furnishings section. It marks the biggest investment by the Barker family, which also own Barkers department store on Northallerton High Street.
Barkers Furnishing Store currently employs 45 staff, but the expansion will create up to 15 new full and part-time jobs.
Director Ian Barker says: "We hope this will draw in shoppers from outside the area and encourage them to spend time and money in Northallerton. We got planning permission to carry out this expansion just before the financial crash and, if we hadn’t had the recession, this redevelopment would have happened sooner. Now there is much more confidence surrounding the economy among consumers and retailers. This is a sign of our commitment to Northallerton as we plan to be around for many years to come.
"This has been a major project for us and the biggest development in Barkers' history since the Furnishing Store opened.”
Following the expansion of the ground floor, Barkers will start to stock more contemporary furniture, including sofas, chairs and dining furniture.
Ian adds: “We hope to make the store a real destination for shoppers, not only local but new customers from outside of the area. We feel this redevelopment will bring a lot to the wider Northallerton community and economy.”
