FOOTWEAR fashion-setters Schuh opened its new Salisbury store on Thursday.

A ribbon was cut to declare the shoe chain in Old George Mall, which has already brought more 25 jobs to the city, with more expected.

Managing director of the shop, Colin Temple, said: "Opening a new store is always exciting but also causes a certain amount of anticipation but even more so when it is a brand new market for us like Salisbury, so we like to give it a bit of everything to test the waters.”

The company launched in 1981 in Edinburgh and now has over 90 shops in the UK and Ireland with its headquarters still in Livingston, near Edinburgh.

Jon Osgood, manager of Old George Mall Shopping Centre, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Schuh here to further strengthen the excellent retail offer we have at the Mall.

“They are a major high street shop and they will be opening off the back of an excellent April here with footfall up by one per cent on last year.”

“These are encouraging times here at Old George Mall. We have built up a good tenant mix over the last few years with the addition of H&M, Topshop/Topman, FatFace and Nationwide.

“Considerable investment has been made by existing tenants, upgrading and refitting units and capital investment by the landlord to create the right shopping environment for both our tenants and customers.

“This is the city’s main shopping area and it is proving popular with retailers and customers as is shown by the fact that we have strong interest from a number of national chains wanting to come into the scheme.”

Opening hours are 9am to 6pm from Monday to Saturday.

On Sundays, it will trade from 10am to 5pm.