Fort William Retail Park to open in time for Christmas

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 2, 2017

The first stores at the new Fort William Retail Park will open in time for Christmas, the developer behind the Scottish site has announced.

M&S Food and Home Bargains will open their stores for local people before the festive season, while Aldi has been confirmed for an early 2018 opening.

The £10m retail park is located near North Road retail park, a successful development with Argos, Carpetright and Poundstretcher stores. Fort William is the largest town in the West Highlands of Scotland with large resident and catchment populations.

Developer Morbaine said the park’s third unit, a 5,000 sq ft space, is still to be let but that several retailers have expressed interest and are currently in discussions to complete the scheme.

The retail park received planning approval at the end of 2014, but construction on the site only began in October 2016 after a long and protracted process to gain an appropriate planning permission. The company was also required to alter the location of the roundabout to access the park and Smelter due to unforeseen service clashes.

Morbaine Director, Alex Brodie said: “It has been a long process getting to this stage and I would like to thank local people and local Councillors over the years who have always been incredibly supportive and helpful.  With the construction and traffic management work almost finished, local people can now look forward to exciting new shops in the area.

“As well as delivering more shopping options, when complete the development will employ a total of  120 people, as well as the jobs created during the construction process.”