UK retail giant to create 200 jobs

One of the UK’s leading clothing and homewares retailers is to open three new stores in Northern Ireland creating around 200 new jobs.

Matalan will open new stores in Belfast, Craigavon and Portadown by the end of the year and are the first to be opened by the company in Northern Ireland. It already operates over 165 stores throughout Great Britain.

Commenting on the expansion, Euan Sutherland, Matalan Retail and Marketing Director said: “Matalan’s expansion into Northern Ireland is a natural progression for the business. Our stores in similar markets, such as Scotland, are very successful and we have an established a distribution network based in the North West of England which will efficiently service this new area."

The company's Belfast store in Boucher Retail Park is the largest of the three stores at 37,000 sq ft. The others stores in Rushmere Retail Park in Craigavon and Magowan West shopping centre in Portadown are 35,000 sq ft and 12,000 sq ft respectively.

Mr Sutherland confirmed that the company plans to venture further into the Irish market in the near future. He added: "We see no reason why within the next three years the Republic of Ireland will not become part of our continued new store opening and expansion programme.”

Founded by John Hargreaves, the first Matalan store opened in Preston in 1985. Matalan operates over 160 stores and currently employs over 14,200 people.

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