Amid the economic gloom there is one ray of sunshine on our High Street.

Despite being on the brink of closure in December, Maidstone’s QS is now proudly boasting it is here to stay.

Not only will shoppers be happy, but the clothing store has also employed seven new staff since its eleventh hour reprieve, including four who were made redundant when Woolworths ceased trading.

The store, which has been in the town around 20 years, was set for closure after its lease came to an end, but a new deal was negotiated just in time.

Manager Linda Munro said: “We have all the new season stock, lots of new equipment and we are really looking sharp both inside and out. We are definitely here to stay.”

Elsewhere the picture is not so positive.

There are two more empty units in Maidstone town centre this week after two big name fashion stores closed their doors.

Principles in Fremlin Walk and Karen Millen in Royal Star Arcade are both no more.

The closures follows news that the Mosaic Group, which bought the chain from Maidstone-born designer Karen Millen in 2004, has gone into administration.

The closure of Principles has resulted in the loss of eight jobs. The future of Karen Millen remains unknown.

An advert in the window of the Maidstone shop directs people to Canterbury and Bluewater.

However, despite requests for information, nobody at the company’s head office was available to comment on the situation.

Last week we reported how Warehouse, Oasis, Coast, Anoushka G and Karen Millen, who were all owned by Mosaic, had been sold to a new company, Aurora Fashions, and that Aurora was understood to be asking landlords at many of its stores to reduce or freeze rents to ensure the stores stay open.

Karen Millen, who was born in Maidstone, sold her controlling interest in the company five years ago.