Shires announces £500,000 revamp as greengrocer finds new home (From Wiltshire Times)

Shires announces £500,000 revamp as greengrocer finds new home

1:37pm Friday 3rd February 2012 in Trowbridge By Mike Wilkinson, Senior Reporter

The shuttered-up SK Fruits store

THE manager of a Trowbridge shopping centre has vowed to turn its fortunes around with a £500,000 revamp after another store suddenly closed.

Customers of the popular fruit and vegetable seller SK Fruits were faced with closed shutters last Thursday morning in The Shires shopping centre.

Now shopping centre manager Sarah-Louise Moore, who took on the role just before Christmas, has ordered 30,000 floor tiles to be ripped up and replaced in a bid to spruce up the centre.

She said: “I’m confident tenants and shoppers will be pleased with what they see. About 120,000 people use the centre every week and they’ll be impressed when it’s finished.

“It is the first major work carried out here since we opened in 1990. There are currently two empty units, but there is already interest being expressed in them.”

The 16-week redevelopment project, which will be carried out at night, comes as SK Fruits joined the Early Learning Centre, Millets, Furry Tails and Argos, which have all closed down or moved in recent months. Peacocks, the clothing store, is also facing uncertainty.

However, The Cutting Bar hairdressers is re-fitting the former Furry Tails unit ready for occupation shortly.

SK Fruits, which has enjoyed a prime spot in The Shires for 21 years, thanked its customers in a notice pinned to the shutters. The notice said: “To all our loyal customers over the past 21 years, it is with regret that we have had to close this shop.”

On Wednesday SK Fruits bosses signed a contract with the management of rival shopping centre Castle Place.

Bosses hope the new shop could open as soon as tomorrow (Saturday) after they were offered a better deal by Castle Place owners Legal and General Property.

A spokesman for SK Fruits said: “Our old premises in The Shires became too expensive and this move means that we can save around 75 per cent each year in property costs.”

The fruit and veg company’s other branches in Corsham and Warminster closed last year, but have since turned around their fortunes and re-opened under new management.