NEWS that high street giant WHSmith is heading for Thornbury has been welcomed by the town’s traders.

The Gazette exclusively revealed last week that the stationery and newsagent chain would be opening a new store in Thornbury later this summer.

WHSmith will be moving into the St Mary Shopping Centre in August and fellow traders in the shopping precinct have said they are looking forward to the opening.

Ramazan Karagandere, of Saray Express Take Away, said: "It will be nice and will bring more people to the town."

Carina Lane, manager of Card Bar and Thorntons, said: "We’re happy it’s coming. We definitely need more shops in Thornbury, and we need more big names in the shopping centre."

However, some traders said WHSmith could create competition for already established shops in the town.

Lynne Lovell, owner of wedding shop Truly You, said: "It will be good to have a strong high street name in Thornbury but I appreciate it will be competition for some of the other independent retailers."

Lee Baines, from Lee’s Mend a Shoe, said Thornbury still lacked a good mix of shops.

He said: "We’d love some more diverse shops to come to Thornbury. No more charity shops and no more coffee shops.

"Smiths could cause a few problems for the book shop and Horders. What we need is a new shoe shop and a young persons' clothes shop like New Look."

Mike Horder, of Horders on the High Street, said despite the new store being in direct competition with his 100-year-old family stationery business, he believes there is room for both.

He said: "I think in the short term we could be affected, but in the long term the increase in footfall may well benefit us. We have regular and loyal customers, and if we can fill more units in the centre then all well and good."

WHSmith said its Thornbury store will focus on selling books, stationery, newspapers and magazines. The shop will occupy the large unit recently vacated by Cotswold News and Gifts, which fronts onto Thornbury High Street.

The Peer Group, which runs St Mary Shopping Centre, said it hoped the confirmation of WHSmith coming to Thornbury would entice other large high street retailers to the town.

The shopping centre currently has seven empty shop units after the departure of Cotswold News and Gifts, and Let’s Walk last month.