One of the oldest shops in a Nottinghamshire town will be brought up to modern-day standards. Rowells, on Derby Road, Stapleford, has been operating on the town's high street for more than 120 years and has been run by three generations of the Marshall family from Nottinghamshire.
The haberdashery, curtain, bedding and clothing store has a bright future ahead after receiving a £32,800 Towns Fund grant for repairs and improvements. In recent years, the 100-year-old shop frontage and windows have deteriorated, and have been in need of urgent and costly repairs.
Owner Chris Marshall said: “We’re proud that Rowells has been in the Stapleford community for so long, which I think is because we’ve never compromised on quality, have friendly staff and offer things that people want and can’t get elsewhere. We really want to carry on for another 120 years but the downturn in business over the last few years has meant we’ve just not had the money to spend on the repairs our building needs.”
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The business will be using the grant to fund double glazing and a new awning to the shop front to protect the building, as well as new flooring, ceiling improvements and electrical works. Work is expected to start on the store in the upcoming weeks.
The Rowell’s grant is one of more than 70 grants to be awarded through the Towns Fund’s £1million Town Centre Recovery Fund, which is one of six projects funded through the £21.1m Stapleford Towns Fund, part of the Government’s £3.6billion Towns Deal. Chris added: “We want to make our shop as appealing as possible for our customers, bringing it up to modern day standards, but retaining the building’s period charm
“This grant will mean we can display more stock that appeals to more age groups with a better appearance which will help grow our business and bring more people to shop in our town. Being more energy efficient through double glazing will also make a massive difference to our running costs.
“This Towns Fund grant will make all this possible and we couldn’t be more grateful.” Ian Jowett, chair of the Stapleford Towns Fund Board, added: “Rowells has been a feature of our town’s high street for generations and we’re pleased that this grant will help with the vital repairs and improvement work that it needs to preserve the building and safeguard the business for many years to come.
“It’s great that so many property owners have come forward to utilise this grant to improve their tired buildings, as improving the street scene is critical in attracting new businesses to open in the town’s vacant buildings.”
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