Business

New entertainment exchange store to create 10 jobs at Kennedy Centre

Ryan Kee, left, retail director at Lambert Smith Hampton, and John Jones, centre manager for The Kennedy Centre
Ryan Kee, left, retail director at Lambert Smith Hampton, and John Jones, centre manager for The Kennedy Centre Ryan Kee, left, retail director at Lambert Smith Hampton, and John Jones, centre manager for The Kennedy Centre

SECOND hand entertainment retailer CeX is to open a new store at the Kennedy Centre , creating 10 jobs.

The global brand was founded in London in 1992 and now has stores in Britain, Spain, USA, Ireland, India, Australia, Portugal, the Netherlands, Mexico and Poland.

The chain buys, sells and exchanges a range of technology and entertainment products including mobile phones, video games, DVDs and Blu-ray movies, computers, digital electronics, TVs and monitors and music CDs.

The new opening will see CeX taking 1,500 sq ft of space, the final available unit on the ground floor of the retail complex.

Centre manager John Jone said: “We are looking forward to welcoming CeX to the centre, further improving our offer to our customers and creating ten new jobs for west Belfast.

“We have had a very successful year and our tenants are all reporting year on year growth. We have a wide array of national retailers including JD Sports, Boots, Peacocks, O'Neills sportswear and Argento as well as a diverse mix of food retailers such as Burger King, Subway, Costa and Greggs. The opening of CeX means that we are now fully let on the ground floor and all of our retailers are reporting growth.”

Lambert Smith Hampton acted on behalf of the landlord.

Its retailer director Ryan Kee added: “The Kennedy Centre continues to work hard to improve and attract new retailers and today’s announcement that CeX will open ahead of the Christmas rush is great news.

"This scheme is performing well and looking ahead to 2017 with optimism with several more deals approaching the final stages of negotiations. We look forward to being able to make similar announcements in the future.”

The Kennedy Centre has experienced a year-on-year increase in customers, averaging footfall of around 100,000 a week.

Its anchor tenants include Sainsbury's, Iceland and Home Bargains.