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QD Stores and Morrisons to joint develop Hadleigh site Value retailer QD Stores has accepted an offer from food specialist retailer Morrisons to jointly redevelop QD's Buyright site at Hadleigh, Suffolk. Commencing immediately, redevelopment of the site will provide Buyright with a new 20,000 sq ft store as well as its existing wraparound garden centre space. Customer parking is to be refurbished and extended to accommodate up to 480 cars. QD expects its new store to open in July (2012). Morrison's unit is anticipated to be trading by Christmas (2012). Norwich-based independent QD Stores operates 38 retail outlets under the QD, Buyright, Lathams and Cherry Lane Garden Centre brands, in locations extending from the East of England and Home Counties to Doncaster in the north and Wrexham in the west. Says QD Stores group managing director, Justin Farrington Smith: "This joint initiative with Morrisons expands our clothing to homeware offer with complementary food lines and is a very positive development for Hadleigh." Its joint initiative with Morrisons comes after the announcement in January (2012) of QD' s most successful Christmas trading figures in its 25 year history together with proposals to open further outlets during the year. Justin Farrington Smith adds: "We shall be exploring further opportunities of this kind in addition to further store openings. We have just acquired a further garden centre site at Cromford, Derbyshire and expect to announce details of the acquisition of freehold assets of two further garden centres shortly."
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