An empty shop unit will be reoccupied in time for Christmas.

The former Vodafone store in Deal High Street will be replaced by a Waterstones bookstore.

But it will be one of the chain’s far smaller stores and its fourth to be unbranded.

It will simply be called The Deal Bookshop.

A Waterstones spokesman said; “For our much smaller stores we give them more of an independent feel. But they are part of our group.

“We expect to open in Deal in early December and we will confirm the date shortly.”

Waterstones bookstores can take up as many as five floors but this one is 900 sq ft.

The nearest other unbranded stores owned by Waterstones is The Rye Bookshop in Rye, East Sussex.

The other two are Southwold in Suffolk and Harpenden, Hertfordshire.