AROUND 450 jobs are on the way for the area after supermarket giant Tesco was given the green light for its Extra store in central Craigavon.
The store - earmarked for a site adjacent to the large B&Q store - will create 300 retailing jobs when it is completed within the next year.
And with Portadown contractors, Turkington's of Mahon Road, landing the multi-million pound contract, up t
o 150 vital jobs in the construction industry could be created.
Tesco aren't saying how the project will affect their current store in the nearby Rushmere Shopping Centre, but they underline that the 300 posts will be "additional" and that the new Extra store will offer a much bigger range of goods.
It will also include the firm's burgeoning Tesco Direct on-line catalogue service, a digital help desk and new departures such as an optician's and environmentally friendly in-store ovens for their bakery range.
Colin Hampsey, Tesco's corporate affairs manager for Northern Ireland, said, "The 300 jobs will cover the entire range from shop floor assistants to managers and will offer what are among the best salaries in the retail sector, allied to a generous benefits package. They will include full-time and part-time posts, fitting the needs of families and carers.
"We will also be providing 150 jobs in the deflated construction industry, and we are delighted those will go to a locally-based company."
Trevor Turkington, the executive director of the Turkington Group, said, "We're looking forward to the challenge of building this Extra store. We recently completed one in Enniskillen and in this time of uncertainty in the construction industry, we're delighted to be building this latest one in our home patch."
The new store will be be on 'stilts' with the store on the first floor and parking for 760 vehicles on ground level.
These will include spaces for parents with young children and for people with disabilities.
Read the full story in this week's Portadown Times (out March 5)
