Plans to offer key cutting and dry cleaning at Mansfield supermarket
Plans have been unveiled for a new “retail pod” at a Mansfield supermarket – offering key cutting, shoe repairs and more.
An application has been submitted to Mansfield District Council, the local planning authority, seeking permission for the unit at Tesco Extra, Chesterfield Road South.
In the application, planning expert Fuse 3 says: “It is part of a joint venture by Timpson and Tesco to offer the convenience of Timpson's services – dry cleaning, shoe repair, key cutting, jewellery repairs, watch repairs, engraving etc – within the Tesco grounds.
“The desire to provide a pod at the Tesco site is part of Timpson’s current business plan to increase their portfolio nationwide – it currently has many such pods in similar locations across the UK.”
Indeed, there is already a Timpson pod at Tesco’s other Mansfield superstore, on Jubilee Way South, Oak Tree.
However, while that pod is sited adjacent to the store entrance, the one proposed for Chesterfield Road South would be located on part of the car park.
A similar application in 2015 was refused, with Fuse 3 saying: “In the opinion of the planning authority, there were sequential preferable sites within and on the edge of Mansfield town centre.”
However, the latest application says: “It is the experience of Timpson’s that due to the nature and value of uses they provide, they are not a destination store in their own right, and rely heavily on existing footfall to be viable.”
A decision is expected by the end of March.