A NEWCOMER is arriving to breathe some fresh life into Bognor Regis.
Graham Burgess has chosen the town’s High Street to open his third branch of Cartridge World.
He expects to welcome his first customers to the premises opposite Sudley Road in the first half of next month.
He said: “I love Bognor. I have a lot of customers that come from Bognor to my shop in Littlehampton.
“That led me to make the brave move in the current economic climate to open my third shop.
A lease for the empty premises, last used as a clothes shop until a month or so ago, was agreed between Mr Burgess and its owner in just six weeks.
He is investing £30,000 to fit out the property with a counter and shop fittings. He is taking on two full-time members of staff.
His impending arrival follows last week’s report in the Observer of the blow caused to the town centre by the impending closure of its Thorntons branch.
This follows close behind the loss of the Julian Graves store just a few doors away. Both companies have suffered nationally in the recession. The Body Shop left the High Street in the spring.
Mr Burgess, 48, said: “I saw that Julian Graves had gone and Thorntons was closing.
“It’s very sad. I think Bognor is such a great town, like Littlehampton and Worthing. I’m really excited to be opening my third store there.”
Cartridge World is run around the global on a franchise basis.
Mr Burgess, who does not live locally, took on the franchise for Littlehampton just under nine years.
This went so well he expanded into Goring-by-Sea about three-and-a-half years ago.
By taking on Bognor, he has extended his Cartridge World territory from Selsey along the coast to Worthing.
He will employ nine people full time, when the Bognor shop opens, and a part-time driver.
Cartridge World is the UK’s largest specialist provider of high quality ink cartridges. It reuses and recycles millions of cartridges a year in its 200-plus stores in this country among 1,600 worldwide.
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