A new shop selling women’s clothing and luggage has opened in a town centre after having to leave a huge mall, which closed due to rising costs.

The team behind the womenswear department at De Bradelei Wharf in Dover have launched Coastal in the town’s Biggin Street. It opened today for the first time.

De Bradalei Wharf, near Dover’s waterfront, currently stands empty and awaiting demolition following its closure last month.

Bosses said the outlet centre had become unviable due to increasing costs.

Coastal offers clothes, bedding, cookware and luggage and is the first standalone shop the team has opened, with most of their other premises running from shopping centres – like De Bradelei Wharf.

The relocation has meant some staff have been able to keep their jobs, although 25 people were made redundant following the outlet’s closure.

Area manager and buyer of the store, Heidi Burke, said: “The hope was to keep people’s jobs and not have to close down.

“We have a few different stores within mills, but Coastal is a new company we have set up. We are hoping to open more stores on the coast.

“This is our first high street independent store which is quite exciting and different to what we have been before.

“We love Dover and have a great customer following so the last thing we wanted was to disappoint people. The easiest thing for us to do would have been to close.

“It has been a struggle but we got there in the end. It is a new name and a fresh start and hopefully, we will be the first of many Coastal stores.”

Kelly Stoner is the store manager and worked at De Bradelei Wharf for more than a decade, where she was also the manager. She says she and the team from the shopping centre are really excited about the new venture.

“We were told very short notice that De Bradelei was closing down and we really wanted to find somewhere,” she said.

“It is me and seven members of staff all from De Bradelei working here. We were all really excited and happy when we found out we would be opening here and I think the town is excited for us too.

“We had a lot of regular customers so there is a lot of positivity about us being in the town. It is exciting.”

Coastal replaces the unit left empty following the departure of Price Less Furniture from Dover. It shut last month after a rent increase made trading “no longer financially viable”.

De Bradelei Wharf shut for good on July 15 following a rise in energy bills and maintenance costs.

Plans also emerged in July for the building to be demolished and replaced with a car park.

The application states the land will be an “interim car park until future redevelopment”.