Construction

Ambitious opening targets

On Thursday 6th February 1981, the Partnership took possession of Lewis’s Ltd. Lewis’s stopped trading on the 17th January, and in the intervening time, the shop was emptied of all of its merchandise, and fixtures and fittings were dismantled. A highly ambitious opening day target was given to the store, 7 April 1981. This would enable the shop to begin trading in the all important run-up to Easter.

Unusual features abound

With this in mind, it was a case of all hands on deck in a race to get everything done in time. Although the layout would be very similar to other Partnership branches, there were one or two unique features planned. The first of these was an unusual customer coffee shop running the entire length of a mezzanine balcony, overlooking the ground floor. The other feature was that the branch would have inside it both a bank and a cash point!