W Boyes & Co Ltd open new store in St Marks Place, Newark, in the unit previously occupied by Wilkos

The first customers have walked through the doors of W Boyes & Co in its new location in Newark.

The Scarborough based family owned department store group W Boyes & Co Ltd will be opening its new store in St Marks Place, Newark — in the unit previously occupied by Wilkos.

Boyes had been operating from its previous 8,000sq ft Appletongate base for more than 20 years — coincidentally, premises it took over from Wilko when it moved to St Mark’s Place.

The new Boyes store opened in its new location today just before 9am, with company directors coming for the opening, including the business’s chairman Andrew Boyes, who said that the staff had done a brilliant job and could be really proud of the new story.

“After over 20 years in our old store, the opportunity arose to move into this empty property from Wilkos, like history repeating itself as Wilko’s were in our old store on Appletongate,” Mr Boyes said.

“This is a much more modern space, considerably bigger and better for our layout. The landlord was very keen for us to take over the property and it made good sense for us and it looks fantastic and brings Boyes on Newark bang up to date.

“This is a store relocation more than a reopening.”

Mr Boyes cut the ribbon to launch the new store with general manager Jason Ludlam, with staff and company directors looking on.

“We don’t have celebrities opening new stores, we rely on our low prices to attract our customers,” Mr Boyes joked.

One of the first customers through the door was Lilian Sullivan, who said that she was really impressed wit the new location.

“It’s got a really good layout and good signage,” she said, “I didn’t used to shop in Boyes much before but I will now, they’ve done a really good job.”

Jason Ludlam said they were expecting a “brilliant” opening day.

“The staff have been working really hard to present this to the public and they’ve done a great job,” he said, “Our customers are loyal and have been asking us when we’re re-opening, and they’re very excited to see our new sections and there’s such a wide range.”

Boyes retail operations director Robert Van Der Heijden added: “We’re very excited to be re-launching, our customers are brilliant in our old location and we can’t wait to see them here, where they can see the improvements.”