Cashing out

The Cash Converters shop on Brandon Parade has closed for business, but fortunately, there were no redundancies, with staff transferred to other branches.

A company spokesman said: “We can confirm that our franchisee store in Brandon Parade has closed.

“Trading against the challenging property costs of the area have made this particular store location economically unviable.

“We are pleased to advise that no job losses have resulted from the closure as all staff have been transferred to fill existing vacancies at other stores within the network.

“We’d like to thank our customers for their support over the past four years and hope to see to them at one of our many other stores in the future.”

Motherwell shopping centre manager Geraldine El Masrour said she was disappointed with the decision to close.

She said: “We’re sorry Cash Converters have decided to close their unit without discussion, especially after months of support.

“Footfall year on year in the centre remained strong, trending ahead of the national average despite the bad weather in November and December, and the loyal customers of Motherwell continued with their Christmas shopping and helped increase store sales, particularly on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.

“We are positive that the centre will continue to improve in the coming year, building on the successes of 2015 and 2016 to date, when lettings were secured to Pure Gym, Costa Coffee, KFC, D-Code, Cancer Research, Love to Travel and Graham’s Café (which will open in March next to Iceland) and lease renewals were agreed with six long term occupiers in the centre.”

The branch featured in the Cashing In series, which offered a behind the scenes look at the company’s operation.

It aired last March and featured staff and customers who use the modern times version of pawnbroking.