THIRTY jobs will be created when a store opens in Derby city centre next week.

Home Bargains is investing £500,000 in the new outlet at Bradshaw Retail Park, off London Road.

The retailer, known for selling branded items at low prices, is moving into the former Allied Carpets store, which closed last year when the firm went under.

It has four stores in Derbyshire, including a shop in Normanton Road, Derby.

The new site will open on a week on Saturday.

Joe Morris, operations director at Home Bargains, said it was good news for the city.

He said: "Home Bargains is excited to be opening this new store, building further on the success of our Normanton Road and Heanor stores."

While many retailers have closed during the recession, cheaper stores – including Home Bargains and Poundland, which started life in Burton – seem to have thrived. Home Bargains in particular is bucking the trend, with plans to open 50 further stores in the UK in the next year.

TJ Morris, trading as Home Bargains, bought 25 former Woolworths outlets from the administrator, most of which are already open for business. It plans to buy more stores directly from landlords.

The old Allied Carpets store was one of 142 to close across the country last summer after the firm went into administration due to the recession.

Allied chief executive Clive Hutchings immediately bought 51 of the chain's 217 stores, including one at the Meteor Centre in Derby,

Other Home Bargains stores in the area include Long Eaton and Burton.

John Forkin, director of Marketing Derby, said the half-a-million-pound investment and jobs was great news for the city.

He said he was a fan of the store already and used the Normanton Road one.

He said: "It shows us the retail sector is improving, which can only be good news for the city and the people of Derby."

Family-run TJ Morris was established more than 30 years ago by Tom Morris with its first store in Old Swan, Liverpool.

It sells health and beauty products, household goods, sweets, snacks, drinks and alcohol.

The company has almost 200 stores in the UK, predominantly in the north of England, Scotland and Wales. It employs about 5,000 staff.