A RETAILING giant has "bid a fond farewell" to a North East store after announcing it would permanently close last year.

Wilko confirmed its store in the Castlegate Shopping Centre in Stockton town centre has closed for good.

Wilko previously told The Northern Echo that staff at the Stockton store had been briefed and the store was closing because “favourable lease terms cannot be agreed with the landlord.

Meanwhile, it said that “23 jobs could potentially be lost.”

It added: “We have been looking at our options, but the reality is that we have been unable to reach an agreement with the landlord that makes this store commercially viable.”

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The landlord of the Castlegate Shopping Centre has been Stockton Borough Council since the centre was purchased.

Confirming the closure had taken place, a spokesperson for Wilko this week said: “We bid a fond farewell to our Stockton store in January. 

"We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our team members past and present and to reassure customers that we’ll continue to offer everything they need from nearby stores in Thornaby and Middlesbrough or via wilko.com."

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And it's not just the Stockton store that has closed - a further 15 stores have closed/are in the process of closing across the UK as well.

Jerome Saint-Marc, Wilko CEO, said: “Our history is steeped in serving our customers and communities going back to 1930 but there’s no denying the way people shop with us and where they want to shop with us is changing.

"As a business we’re evolving and this includes working with landlords for more favourable terms, as well as looking at locations and store formats.

"We’ll continue to pull together to make our business better to secure the future of over 16,000 team members”.

“We’ll be doing everything we can to support our affected team members who will be offered any available positions in nearby stores. 

"We apologise to customers but will continue to offer them everything they need in nearby stores or via wilko.com.”

The nearest alternative Wilko branches are in Thornaby and Middlesbrough.

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