A bookshop chain is dropping Sussex from its name after more than 60 years as part of a rebranding exercise which began with the opening of a new shop.
British Bookshops and Stationers - which also trades as Sussex Stationers - has opened a shop in Western Road, Brighton, called British Bookshops.
Managing director Michael Shakespeare said all Sussex Stationers would eventually be renamed British Bookshops, but added it could take "years".
British Bookshops and Stationers was sold in January 2004 for £30 million to Irish chain Eason and Sons which took full control of the company a year later.
The new shop is designed differently from the other shops but the product line a mixture of books, stationary, greeting cards and ordnance survey maps - is the same.
Mr Shakespeare said: "We wanted to change the layout, improve things a bit and make it more family-friendly than some of our other shops.
"Eventually all our shops will be refurbished and gradually the name Sussex Stationers will go, but obviously that could take years."
The Dubliner said: "The name might be changing but our prices will not. We have the cheapest average prices on the high street.
"And we are not changing our ethos of being a community book retailer. If you look at our shops they are in places such as Shoreham, Seaford, Hailsham and they are not big units in premium locations, but that's out strength."
For 33 years Sussex Stationers was owned and run by brothers Michael and Jonathan Chowen from a head office in East Street, Brighton.
The Chowen brothers paid £600 in 1971 for a shop in Haywards Heath which had been trading as Sussex Stationers since the Forties. There are now 53 shops in the chain, 20 of which are in Sussex. The others stretch from Southampton in the west to Enfield in the north and Dover in the east.
The firm has a warehouse and distribution centre at the former FMT tool factory in Crowhurst Road, Hollingbury, Brighton, employing more than 200 people.
Last year revenues at British Bookshops and Stationers hit £40 million.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
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