The Bishop of Ripon, The Rt Revd Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, has given her blessing to the new M&S Food store opening in Ripon tomorrow morning.
Dr Hartley, who joined the Mayor of Ripon Councillor Eamon Parkin for a preview visit, said a prayer of blessing as members of M&S staff gathered at a safe distance with their heads bowed.
The preview was arranged because tomorrow’s planned opening ceremony, due to be carried out by Cllr Parkin, had to be called off because of the coronavirus crisis – which itself saw the original April 29 opening rescheduled.
Cllr Parkin told The Stray Ferret:
“This is a fabulous development for Ripon and a vote of confidence in our city at this difficult time for the retail sector. It gives us hope and brings us very welcome new jobs.”
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Paul Nicoll, centre, showed Mayor Eamon Parkin and Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley around the new Ripon store
Before he showed them around the store, which is part of the £10 million St Michael’s Retail Park development, manager Paul Nicoll said almost 60 jobs had been created and 90% of the workforce has been recruited from the Ripon area.
As the Bishop and Mayor looked around, they saw a hive of activity among staff putting the finishing touches to the filling of shelves where thousands of items are already in place.
Mr Nicoll added:
“We’ve gauged from what we’ve seen on social media that local people have been looking forward to us opening.”
M&S is returning to the city years after it closed a small shop unit in The Arcade. It joins a line-up of supermarkets in the city including Aldi, Booths, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, while Lidl has recently announced that it is also looking for a suitable site in Ripon.
