IT'S good news for Leighton's High Street with a national bargain chain announcing a move into the old Woolworths store.

With an anticipated opening of next Tuesday, 99p Stores will bring 30 jobs to the town. Coupled with the arrival of Costa Coffee the following day on July 1, it's some welcome news for recession-battered Leighton.

99p Stores currently has 89 shops in the UK and employs 1,500 people.
The chain aims to have 120 stores by 2010 and Leighton is on the list of 40 active pursuits.

This year the 99p brand has, in particular, targeted former Woolworths sites – around 15 to date – with plans to move into nearly 40 more former Woolies by the end of the year.

Leighton's branch will offer bargains such as home cooking ingredients to cosmetics, garden  items to gadgets, food to fancy gifts, themed and seasonal items, such as summer ranges.

A spokesman for 99p Stores said: "Leighton Buzzard is definitely a town that we want to be in.

"Bedfordshire people know a bargain when they see one. The chain already has an outlet in Bedford and because of the success of the Bedford store we are opening up in Leighton Buzzard."

Delighted Vince Garvin, chairman of the I Love LB Group, said: "I think 99p Stores opening in the High Street is a very positive thing for us and for every other business here.

"They are a relatively young, vibrant, positive company with fantastic plans for the future.

"We definitely do not want empty, boarded up units giving signs of decay to the town and, the old Woolworths site is a large unit that would prove difficult to fill in good economic times, let alone today.

"99p Stores seem to follow the old (original) Woolworths ethos of offering a massive array of reasonable quality goods at very affordable prices, something we could all do with in this day and age."

"Also, we shouldn't forget that a lot of people lost their jobs when Woolworths disappeared from the town and the 99p Store will replace some, if not all of those jobs.

"The new store will also draw shoppers into the town centre which, in turn, means all the surrounding businesses could benefit, too.

"All in all, I welcome the addition of the 99p Store to the town and wish them all the very best for the future here."

>> To mark the opening, 99p Stores is offering Leighton's shoppers a few bargains. At 9am, at 37 High Street, there will be 17-piece teasets up for grabs at just 99p.

Also, LBO readers have the chance of being VIPs in Leighton – Very Important Pennysaver, that is!

The winner will cut the official red ribbon at the store's opening, make a toast from a 99p champagne flute, and win a trolley dash where they can scoop as many single items as they can in 99 seconds – the current 99p Stores record is 102 items in 99 seconds.

Find out how to win in Tuesday's (June 23) LBO or Thursday's (June 25) Citizen.