NEXT has opened the doors of its Barrow shop to eager customers after being closed for months for refurbishment.

The clothing and homeware store at Hindpool Retail and Leisure Park opened on Thursday to a crowd of waiting shoppers.

The store has undergone a refit during the recent lockdown, with upgrades to all areas and nine new jobs created.

A team of specialists from across the country were called in to work with Next staff to get the new store ready.

Store manager Simon Craig, who was previously employed by Marks and Spencer in Dalton Road, said: “The staff have been amazing. There was a lot to sort out after being closed for so long and they have been on top of everything, even with the difficulties around social distancing.

“We think the store looks great and we hope the customers enjoy the result.”

The team has worked around Covid restrictions and the management implemented ‘flexi-furlough’ to allow all the staff to help get involved in re-opening the store.

Simon said: “We understand how difficult it has been for employees who were placed on furlough.

“We wanted everyone to be involved in the excitement of the re-opening so we allowed staff to work flexibly to enable everyone to participate.

“I’m really proud of everything our team has achieved in what has been a difficult time for everybody."

The store has been refurbished with new fitting rooms and fixtures and an eye-catching mosaic floor. New sanitising stations have been made available to ensure shopper safety, along with an updated area dedicated to online returns.

With the increase in online shopping, the store has introduced a hassle-free system to return online items. The new ‘drop and go’ zone allows customers to place their online return parcel into a box in-store and their refund will be processed within half an hour.

Simon said: “We understand that customers don’t want to wait in a queue when all they want is to return a parcel. The new drop and go zone makes returning online items faster and easier than ever.

"We look forward to welcoming back customers as the Covid restrictions are eased further and normality returns.”

The refurbished store stocks women’s, men’s and children’s clothes as well as a range of homeware, accessories and cosmetics. Customers are also available to order larger home items and furniture in-store.

Next is currently open Thursday to Sunday, with a full re-opening planned for the near future.