TK MAXX opened its doors in Chippenham at 9am this morning to a queue of about 50 people.

The discount designer fashion and homeware retailer is the second company to open at Bath Road Retail Park after Next.

At the front of the queue was excited teenager Phoenix Bolton, 13, who had come from Bremhill and was about to head straight over to the dresses, straight after her friend had the honour of cutting the ribbon.

Phoenix said: “We’ve been here since 8.30am. I’m just really happy to have TK Maxx in Chippenham. We won’t have to drive all the way to Swindon now.”

Her mum Alison Bolton said: “We were going to Sainsbury’s one day in the car and I wondered what was going on in the back, she was screaming. And it was because she’d seen the sign for TK Maxx coming.”

With them were Elise Ford, 10, and brother Ethan Ford, nine, who live off London Road, Chippenham.

Elise said: “We didn’t think we were going to be the first.”

TK Maxx said they would be receiving several deliveries per week to the 1,362 sq m store, with each delivery containing thousands of items. Shoes, women’s clothes and accessories are on the ground floor and upstairs are men’s and kids’ clothes and homeware.

Its opening, which follows the opening of the Spitfire Retail Park store in Trowbridge four months ago, leaves just one unit of the old Focus DIY store in Chippenham empty.

TK Maxx said their new store had created 40 jobs. Emma Lissender, employer advisor at Chippenham’s Jobcentre, said: “They used our premises to do all the interviews, there were three or four days of back-to-back interviews. It got 11 people off Jobseeker’s Allowance and into work.”

The sales associates positions advertised on their website were for contracts of between eight and 20 hours.

Chippenham store manager Michael Corr said: “We are very excited to have opened up the new TK Maxx store in Chippenham. We hope customers will love our every-changing selections of designer finds and unique gems, all with amazing savings.”