Salisbury Debenhams site set to open as department store

Independent department store Bradbeers will open at the former Debenhams site in Salisbury

A former Debenhams shop is set to be re-opened as a department store.

Bradbeers, a chain of independent department and furniture stores, is due to open in Salisbury in October, following Debenhams' closure in 2020.

It had leased the site on Blue Boar Row to the retailer, after buying it in 2009, and aims to create 70 jobs.

Executive director Greg Davies hopes the opening will help attract more people to the city after a general downturn in trade.

Mr Davies said while Salisbury is a "beautiful historic city", its retail sector has suffered as a result of the pandemic and the departure of Debenhams.

'Service very important'

"We feel with our arrival and with Primark's arrival will attract more people," he told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

"It's great to be opening a new store" that will include a women's and men's wear department, fashion accessories, and homewares.

On how they think they were different to other retailers, Mr Davies said: "I think our best point of difference is our staff."

"I feel, when I go shopping into the high street, that the service levels have gone down because these high street retailers are having to cut costs and the easiest cost and often the biggest cost, is the staff," he continued.

"Service is a very important element and people come to us because they know they're going to be talked to."

Bradbeers also has stores in Romsey and Hedge End.