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Furniture Retailer Announces Doubling Of Sunderland Store Investment

A North East furniture retailer has announced a doubling of the investment in its Sunderland city premises as it unveiled the new look store.

Michael O’Connor Furniture Group has given its store in Holmeside, Sunderland, a major makeover at a cost of £50,000 – a move that has seen three extra staff being taken on bringing the total workforce to eight.

Now an extra £55,000 is to be spent creating a high class 80-seat licensed café, which will be spearheaded by well-known Wearside restaurant group, Amore.

The store, which reopens on December 27, will have a bigger product range and has broaden its customer appeal and as a result has been renamed Home Interiors to reflect the transition.

The investment includes:

• Opening up the fourth floor and basement, previously used for storage, as retail space.

• One floor becoming dedicated to furnishings and ornaments aimed at the first time buyer market.

• The creation of a contemporary, comfortable café, which will employ three to four staff and which will allow customers to take a break while browsing the Home Interiors’ extensive collections. Cafe Amore will open mid February 2013.

The Amore family have established a reputation among discerning diners as the owners of Amore Lounge Bar and Restaurant in the city’s Tavistock Place and Amore 2@Ashbrooke Sports Centre.

The restaurants’ highly experienced chefs create dishes using influences from throughout Italy as well as using food sourced from local suppliers.

Rob Stevens, Michael O’Connor Furniture Joint Managing Director, said: “Both businesses embrace an ethos of offering high quality products allied with top-class customer service, so teaming up with the Amore family to launch a café in our new-look store makes perfect sense.

“This latest development will take the level of investment in our Holmeside store to more than £100,000, which demonstrates the commitment two local businesses have to helping create a vibrant, successful city centre.

“The Home Interiors store looks fantastic and showcases furniture and accessories in ways that will inspire with the displays illustrating to customers how our ranges can work in their homes.”

A spokesman from Amore said: “The Amore family are delighted to be joining forces with Michael O’Connor in Sunderland and opening Cafe Amore. We feel that the two brands will complement each other perfectly and we look forward to working with the team and starting 2013 on a positive note.”

The shop’s revamp also has contributed to the economic wellbeing of the wider business community with the furniture group using contractors from the Sunderland and Washington area.

Alongside contemporary and modern furnishings, the store will continue to stock traditional brands and ranges such as Bridgecraft and G Plan.

The Philip Thursby carpet concession will continue to have a presence in the store.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Recognition PR Business Team .