New 99p Stores on the Imperial Retail Park in Gravesend will open tomorrow morning
Published: 08:57, 05 March 2014
About 30 new jobs will be created when a 99p Stores shop opens in the old Comet store in Gravesend tomorrow.
The recession-busting chain is taking over the old Comet site on the Imperial Retail Park.
There is also a 99p Stores in the St George’s Centre which will remain open.
Big queues are expected to form before the doors open at 9am and a special celebration will be held on Saturday with bargains, games, prizes and a trolley dash.
Hussein Lalani, co-founder and commercial director said: “We are delighted to be opening in Gravesend. We have been looking at different sites in the region for quite some time.
“The public has become rightly transfixed on value - and we are delighted to oblige.
“The days of the public paying three times over the odds for everyday basics like branded toothpaste, coffee and washing-up liquid are a thing of the past.”
The new store will have about 5,000 different 99p items from cosmetics to catering, food to fashion with more than 70% of these goods branded.
The Imperial Retail Park branch will be the 241st 99p Stores and around two million people use them each week.
The brand was conceived in 2001 by entrepreneur Nadir Lalani, along with his two sons Hussein and Faisal.
The company is based in Daventry, Northants, where it has an aircraft-style hangar which is home to all its 99p products.
Gravesend already boasts a Poundland in the Thamesgate Shopping Centre and a Poundstretcher in the St George’s Shopping Centre.
Comet closed its store down in December 2012 and was among 125 stores listed for closure around the UK.
Before it collapsed into administration, Comet had 240 stores and around 6,000 staff - 20 of which lost their jobs when the Gravesend store closed.
Sarah Newton, 41, housewife and mother-of-three from Gravesend said: “I think we have enough pounds shops in the town but I do appreciate they are value for money. My kids love them.”
Elda Duncan, 84, of Trafalgar Road, Gravesend said: “I don’t think we need it - we need some nice shops here, like a nice dress shop.”