North East furniture retailer Barker and Stonehouse is set to break new ground when it opens its new £5m Tyneside flagship store.
The family firm will open the doors to its 12th store today, April 7, at the the Metrocentre Retail Park in Gateshead, where actress Joanna Lumley will perform the opening ceremony and take part in a discussion about her life and work. The new store has taken two years to come to fruition and doubles the size of its former Gateshead base, which now becomes an outlet store for the business, with nearly 50,000 sqft of retail space across three floors.
As well as creating 20 new jobs, the new shop also has a number of innovative features and, in line with the retailer’s eco-friendly approach, it has been designed with sustainability ingrained in its blueprint. Alongside Barker and Stonehouse’s latest range of furnishing, the new Gateshead store will feature an events and co-working space called The Nook with free Wi-Fi access, to encourage visitors to meet friends or work from the oak and glass hot-desk bar and lounge area. Designers and makers, interior and design influencers will also be delivering regular special events and activities in The Nook.
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The top floor has an indoor/outdoor café bistro, run by North East restaurateur Daryl Chadwick serving Mediterranean specialities for lunch, as well as breakfasts and brunch.
James Barker, managing director at Barker and Stonehouse, said: “Whilst Barker and Stonehouse is a national brand with stores across the country, the North East is very much still our home so we are thrilled to be investing in the region and to be bringing our latest ideas and products to its people. The Gateshead store opens a new chapter in the company’s 77-year history and has some fantastic unique design features that I’m hoping our customers will really enjoy and make use of, such as our co-working lounge and our bistro.
“The store has been designed to be a really restful, organic space, and showcases some truly exceptional furniture. It will be great seeing how customers respond to what we’ve done with the store and the mix of furniture, lighting and accessories we’ve sourced.”
Barker and Stonehouse was founded in 1946 by James Barker’s grandfather Charles Barker and Alex Stonehouse with a mission to enliven the living rooms of Britain. Since then, the company has grown to employ over 440 people with an annual turnover of nearly £100m.
Alongside its 12 main stores, Barker and Stonehouse also operates two concept stores, one within Fenwick in Newcastle flagship and the other in Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames, two outlet stores and four warehousing distribution centres.
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