Waterstones has returned to a closure-hit shopping centre six months after pulling out of the site.
The book chain left Ashford’s County Square in June having occupied a spot next to Superdrug for more than a decade.
Its departure left many shoppers worried it would not seek a return to the town, with the company’s branch in Tenterden High Street the only one within a 10-mile radius.
But the chain has now filled the former Jobcentre Plus and River Island unit two doors down in County Square.
Like its previous unit, its new home is across a single floor and does not include a cafe.
It opened today with a ‘soft launch’ but its first full day of trading will begin tomorrow.
It will be open seven days a week from 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am to 4pm on Sundays.
The chain’s former unit is now occupied by Specsavers.
The opticians moved from a spot next to EE into the vacant space on Monday.
Its new branch is open from 8.50am to 5.40pm on weekdays, and 9am to 5.30pm on Saturdays and 10am to 4pm on Sundays.
In July, charity shop YMCA unexpectedly announced it was leaving the centre just three years after opening.
But County Square bosses said they are trying to find a suitable unit for the charity to relocate to.
A new tenant has been lined up to fill the charity’s former unit next to Poundland, although the details are yet to be confirmed.
Other closures at County Square this year include The Body Shop, which shut in February, and Peacocks, which left in March.
In the same month, County Square bosses added the shopping centre’s extension – which was completed in 2008 – to Ashford Borough Council’s “call for sites”.
This was an invitation to developers and landowners to submit plots for inclusion in the authority’s new Local Plan, which sets out where homes could be built in the borough up to 2041.
If accepted, 200 new homes could one day replace the extension at the shopping centre.
The upper floors are expected to be turned into housing, while the bottom floor – which includes a number of units that have never been occupied – would still be a retail space.