A home furnishings business which moved into Hull 14 years ago is promising more space and a wider range of products after completing the move to bigger premises.

The relocation by the Yorkshire Linen Co. has brought the closure of its outlets at North Point Shopping Centre in Bransholme and at the Prospect Centre in Hull. But the new home in King Edward Street provides a platform for expansion and has already created some job opportunities.

“All the staff were offered jobs but not everybody wanted to move,” said Jayne Yates, Manager of the store.

“So we turned a part-time role into a full-time post, we brought in someone else part-time and we’ll see how it goes from there.

“But we needed somewhere bigger and we’ve certainly got it here – the new store gives us more than four times the space that we had in the other two shops.”

The Yorkshire Linen Co. is based in Harrogate and has been trading now for more than 20 years with branches throughout the north of England, Spain and Portugal. Jayne joined as Assistant Manager at the Prospect Centre outlet in 2000, becoming Manager a year later and then running both shops after the North Point site opened in 2003.

“We found out about the move late last year and then it was a bit of a rollercoaster closing the other shops and opening this one,” said Jayne.

The new home is the former Superdrug store which had been closed for about 18 months.

Jayne added: “It needed a good clean after being empty for so long but we managed to get the shop fitters in a little bit early. Everything moved very quickly after that and while it was very tiring we were ready ahead of schedule.

“We’ve had a lot of help from our own management. It’s a family business and they are very hands-on – when the boss comes over he’s working on the till and dealing with customers and that inspires everyone else.

“We work very hard to look after our customers and the new shop will help us with that. We will be able to introduce some new departments and we have more bays to display our existing departments.

“People who think they know what we do, having visited the other two shops, might be surprised to see how much more we have. In the past, customers might see something on our website or in one of our other stores and ask us to order it, but now they should find that we’ve got everything here.”

Kathryn Shillito, HullBID City Centre Manager, said: “The expansion of the Yorkshire Linen Company in Hull is a real success story.

“Jayne is making the most of the space available in the new store and the combination of a well-known brand and the high-quality products should help to increase footfall in the King Edward Street area of the city centre.”