Oyez! Oyez! We're back in our jobs

EIGHT former Woolworths staff have gone back to work – after new bosses found their CVs pinned to a noticeboard in an empty store.

Managers at discount retailer TJ Hughes were looking to recruit 120 workers after spending £1 million refitting Woolies' vacated branch in Hanley.

And they found eight of them among the almost 200 people who were made redundant across the region when the collapsed retail chain's 13 branches closed their doors in December.

The staff are now back working as sales assistants after being taken on at the newly-opened TJ Hughes.

Among them is Margaret Deacon, from Bucknall.

The 52-year-old had worked in Woolworths since starting on August 27, 1974.

She said: "It felt a bit weird coming back into the building, but it's just a building.

"When Woolworths closed, I missed the staff and customers more than the place.

"It was devastating. I had worked with the same colleagues for a long time.

"When the old fixtures and fittings were being sold it was depressing. Everyone was desperate to grab bargains from the shelves."

Margaret, who had not been out of a job before, said she found being unemployed a struggle.

She said: "I'd worked all my life and I didn't know what to do with myself when I woke up in the morning.

"I tried to find a new direction and did a care work course, but I realised it wasn't for me and I wanted to work in retail.

"The new store is fantastic and it's great to be working with some of my old colleagues again."

The new TJ Hughes shop has been hailed as a sign of changing times in city centre trade by business leaders.

After standing empty for nine months, the 20,000 square feet unit reopened on Tuesday.

The Hanley branch is the chain's 50th and Martin Jones, store manager, said it has been trading strongly in its early days.

He said: "The response from the public has been phenomenal.

"They are happy with the new store and the discounted brands we sell.

"When we went into the old Woolworths store in Hanley we found an envelope stuck to a notice board in the shop with all the former employees' CVs, so we actively recruited them.

"Woolworths was trading here for a long time and the staff were very experienced."

Michaela Aston worked in Woolworths in Newcastle for two-and-a-half years.

The 43-year-old, of Norton Heights, Norton, has now been given a job overseeing the technology department in TJ Hughes.

She said: "I have helped to rebuild the former Woolworths store, which has been a really good experience.

"When I left Woolworths, I was devastated as working there was like being part of a very big family. It is brilliant to have been taken on by a similar type of group. I think it is going to do really well."

Councillor Jean Bowers, Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, speaking at the store's official opening yesterday, said: "It is a big boost for the city centre.

"The fact it has created so many new jobs is very positive."