Sofa Brands Factory Outlet to open new Chippenham store

Sofa Brands International plans to open its new Sofa Brands Factory Outlet store on New Road during the weekend of Friday, January 12.

The furniture shop has filled the vacant unit next to The Brunel pub, which had been empty since the Enigma Rooms axe throwing and escape room venue closed its doors permanently in July.

After the sudden closure of the axe throwing centre, the prominent property was gutted before being marketed to potential new occupants for several months.

Sofa Brands’ B2C trading director Craig Lyus, who is originally from the Chippenham area, told this paper he hopes the new store will help revitalise the town centre.

The unit on New Road, Chippenham, in October (Image: Newsquest)

He said: “I was raised here, and I do think there’s a gap in the market, I just want to help lift up the town centre.

“There are a few empty units around but they’re starting to fill up now and I want the shop to have that communal feel to it.

“It’s hopefully a good addition to the town centre and I think people are just pleased to see a large unit filled with something… I think it can do really well.”

The new premises is scheduled to open over the weekend, with renovations to the building currently ongoing, but this will be subject to the completion of electrical works.

Sofa Brands Factory Outlet will offer a wide range of some of the country’s biggest furniture brands including G Plan, Parker Knoll, The Lounge Co and Duresta.

These sofas and chairs will all be manufactured by Sofa Brands International before being distributed via the Chippenham store.

One of the products that may be available from the store in Chippenham (Image: Sofa Brands International)

Customers will also be able to design their own unique sofa by combining the models on offer with dozens of surplus fabric options.

Mr Lyus added: “We sell sofas. Really great sofas. Nothing as exciting as axe throwing I’m afraid, but hopefully we’ll be able to occupy the building for many years to come.

“All of these sofas are high quality premium items, built in the UK.

“A lot of it is made in our G Plan factory in Melksham, which is why opening a store in Chippenham to sell excess stock makes sense.”