Superdrug store could open at former Smith Street post office
HEALTH and beauty shop Superdrug could be set to open a branch in St Peter Port.
A planning application for new signage has been submitted for Nelson Place in Smith Street.
It proposes installing the brand’s black and white signage over the shop, as well as repainting the blue-painted features at ground floor level with black paint, such as pillar details and timber window frames.
Advertising vinyls would be applied internally to windows, with a hanging sign installed outside.
In the planning application covering letter Gerard Holt from project agent A7 Design said the client wanted to erect brand signage in a sensitive manner to preserve the building’s historic features.
‘They are not looking to remove any of the existing shop front or fenestration and aim to add their brand whilst retaining all existing features (including the Post Office signage) causing minimal disturbance to the high street scene, supporting the vitality of town, being one of the more prominent gateway retail units,’ he said in the covering letter.
‘Minimal fixings will be used to minimise harm, ensuring the existing features are retained without affecting the existing features and structural integrity.’
The building, which has been listed since 2009, was built in the 1880s to house the Town post office.
It closed as a post office about 16 years ago, when services moved across the road. It was sold by the States for £1.6m. in 2013 and went on to become a pound shop, but this has since closed.
In recent times it has been used as a pop-up charity shop.
The property is currently up for rent for an undisclosed amount, and includes a large shop floor at the front and a number of store rooms behind.
Superdrug is a 60-year-old business with more than 750 stores across the UK, as well as a shop in Jersey.
It sells toiletries, make-up and pharmacy goods. It will only be a few doors away from market competitor Boots, which is based as the bottom of Smith Street.
Local toiletries and cosmetics store Stonelakes also had a shop in Smith Street until about 10 years ago, while the Coop closed its pharmacy at the bottom of the street last year.
n The latest planning application can be viewed at https://www.gov.gg/liveplanningapplications.
