STAFF are delighted after being told a popular department store in Dovercourt has been saved.

Employees at Baldwins of Dovercourt, in Kingsway, were left devastated last year after being told the store was set to close as the building’s owner was selling the site.

Community Voluntary Services Tendring also revealed it wanted to expand its community work to Harwich and applied for permission for change of use for the shop.

Kevin Baldwin, owner of Baldwins, said the building had now been bought by a new owner who had decided to sign a five-year contract with the department store.

“We were going to have to close as there was nowhere else suitable in Dovercourt for us to go to,” he said.

“We were making plans to close, but now a new owner has bought the shop and the flat above and he wants us to stay.

“We have already signed a new lease. I am very happy about it – it really is good news. The staff will be keeping their jobs and are over the moon.”

He added: “We have been treading on eggshells, but now we are reorganising the store – we have been on hold for six months.

“There is not a huge choice for shoppers in Dovercourt and while I have nothing against charity shops, people will be happy that the department store will remain open.

“Another charity shop or drop-in centre is not what the town centre needs.

“We would like to thank all our customers who have been so supportive.”

Baldwins was opened five years ago after staff, made redundant from the town’s Co-op store in the same street, rallied together to open it.

The chain includes shops in Harwich, Stowmarket and Ipswich, with a clothes-only section also in Heart’s Delight Garden Centre, in Lawford.

The company employs more than 20 staff across the sites, with five people working in Harwich.

Sharon Alexander, chief executive of Community Voluntary Services Tendring, said; “We are disappointed not to secure the premises, but we are looking at several options in the Dovercourt area in order to develop our services there.

“We need to have a base in the Dovercourt and Harwich area, and Kingsway would have been an ideal location, but we will keep looking.

“We want to ensure our services that support the community and volunteering opportunities are accessible.

“At the moment, we only run outreach services, which is not sustainable, and any groups that want to access services have to come to Clacton, which is not fair.”