TK Maxx in Southport has become something of a second home for the store’s General Manager Carl Pearson.
He worked his first ever shift there as a seasonal job in the run-up to Christmas two decades ago.
Twenty years on and he is proud to lead one of our town’s most community-minded firms, where being local and part of the neighbourhood is vitally important with an ethos of ‘our store, our home’.
TK Maxx opened its doors in the Marble Place shopping centre on Chapel Street in Southport town centre in 1999. It was one of the very first TK Maxx stores to arrive in the UK. Staff were eager to mark their 20th anniversary in style last year, but the celebrations were unfortunately muted due to the Covid pandemic and the associated lockdowns.
The store enjoys a huge following among shoppers in Southport and from further afield. So much so that the firm carried out ambitious expansion plans a few years ago, really cementing its place, not only as the anchor store for Marble Place, but also as one of the main shopping destinations for Southport town centre.
Carl said: “This is my second stint in the TK Maxx store in Southport. When I worked my first shift here I was a Christmas temp! It is a completely different place to when I first started.
“I have worked in the business for 20 years. I had moved away to the Netherlands for a year, to open some new stores there.
“When my wife became pregnant we moved back to England, and I was delighted to return to TX Maxx in Southport. We have a five-year-old boy now.
“I grew up in Maghull, but I have been in Southport for the best part of 20 years now. In our store, we are all local. In some other companies, retail managers are brought in from elsewhere and commute to work.
“At TK Maxx we are passionate about having managers who are local. We have four of us in our management team here who all live within five minutes of where we work. It really does feel like a local store.”
TK Maxx in Southport is definitely a home from home for the people who work there.
Carl said: “We really do see ourselves as a local shop. We employ a lot of local people here.
“At the moment we employ 31 people, but that can go up to 45 as we move towards Christmas.
“Because of the Covid pandemic and its impact, it is giving us the opportunity to employ more people in our store.
“Particularly in Southport, people are coming here to enjoy their staycations, due to a hesitancy to fly abroad at the moment.
“We are enjoying more footfall as a result.
“Although the pandemic has hit a lot of stores hard, both as a brand nationally and here in Southport, TK Maxx has been seeing an increase in sales.”
Carl is delighted to see the current renaissance in retail and hospitality in Southport town centre.
Beales department store on Lord Street is due to open in August; The Perfume Shop opened on Chapel Street on 24th July; One Below opened on Chapel Street on 9th July; building work is being carried out to convert the former BHS store on Chapel Street into aparthotel rooms, a bar, a cafe and new shops; and the new-look Southport Market opened on 22nd July following a £1.4million transformation.
Carl said: “We really want to see a healthy high street here in Southport, and we are seeing some really positive signs of that with lots of investment and new businesses opening here.
“It benefits us all. We are really positive about what is happening in Southport.
“If all this new investment through Southport Town Deal and other developments is going to lead to more visitors and greater footfall for the town, then it is going to be up to us all as local businesses to go out and convert that into sales.
“It is really great for us seeing empty units such as the former BHS, Beales and Taskers Sports buildings now being filled, as well as seeing all the exciting things happening such as the opening of the new Southport Market which are really putting Southport on the map.
“We have had a really strong trading year this year. TK Maxx is one of the few businesses in the UK which has been showing growth and has been opening more new stores.”
TK Maxx in Southport is very much a local store, employing local people and supporting our high street and the local economy.
They and other national stores in the town centre such as Marks & Spencer and Primark are enticing customers to come and shop in Southport. By doing so, they are generating greater footfall and giving opportunities to independent shops, restaurants, bars and cafes nearby to benefit from the volume of shoppers attracted.
Everyone wins when national retailers and independents together provide an attractive offer to encourage shoppers to visit from across the region.
TK Maxx also plays a huge role in supporting the local community through its corporate social responsibility.
Carl said: “As a national retailer, many people don’t realise just what we do in the local community and how passionate we are about that.
“We have a Community Fund which gives us, as a store, the opportunity to support three local charities every year.
“It gives our members of staff the chance to nominate a charity in town which they are particularly passionate about or involved with.
“We are also heavily involved in supporting national appeals for Red Nose Day and Comic Relief.
“This year, we are looking to support Alder Hey Children’s Hospital – we have all had family members treated there at some point.
“We are also backing Autism Initiatives – they have given me lots of details about the superb work they do here in Southport.
“We are also pleased to give our backing to The Big Bus Project at Marshside Primary School. We know that the project they are doing there will benefit the whole community.
“There are a lot of other charities out there that we want to be able to support too. They need to make sure that they are registered and have an official Charity Number before we can do so.
“In the past we have donated money to the new lifeboat station which Southport Lifeboat is constructing on Marine Drive, and we have donated to Queenscourt Hospice a couple of times – we have had members of staff whose family members have spent time there.
“We have also supported Parenting 2000, and raised funds for the accessible play areas at Presfield School in Southport.
“This is a big part of our business culture here at TK Maxx in Southport. We walk a lot about ‘Our Store, Our Home’, and how we take pride in not only our staff, but also in how we get involved in our local community.
“We are also invested in inclusivity and diversity in our employees and making sure we represent the community in which we serve. We want to ensure that we employ people from a diverse background.”
TK Maxx is at 7-9 Marble Place, Southport, PR8 1DF, call: 01704 501900
Southport BID currently runs a monthly National Retail Leadership Group, on which we discuss community engagement, and many of the other topics mentioned above. Please email info@southportbid.com if you would like to be involved, or to find out more.
