Olympic gold medallist Manning opens new look Currys

Retailer re-vamps the UK’s biggest electrical store

Sutton Coldfield’s Olympic gold medallist Paul Manning will be opening the new look Currys Megastore, the UK’s biggest electrical retail outlet, at Wednesbury (Junction 9, M6) next week.

Paul, who won the gold for Track Cycling at this year’s Beijing Olympics, will be in-store from 10.00am on Friday 17th and customers will have the chance to race the Olympian at cycling on the Nintendo Wii.

At 60,000 square feet, the Junction 9 Currys Megastore is the retailer’s and the UK’s biggest electrical outlet. It has recently undergone a major refit and now has more than 10,000 products in-store with over 200 different TV’s, 120 digital cameras, 100 MP3 players, 250 fridges and freezers and 150 laptops and PCs.

Paul Manning commented: “It’s great to be back in Birmingham and I’m looking forward to what promises to be a fantastic day. Racing against the Currys customers is going to be a new experience for me and one that I’m really excited about. I’m way better at cycling in the real world than in the virtual world so this is a golden opportunity for anyone that wants to be able to tell their mates that they’ve beaten an Olympic gold medallist.”

A weekend of exclusive deals will also be running from Thursday 16th to Sunday 19th to celebrate the opening with reductions of up to 50 per cent on selected items. Deals will also include SatNavs from £19.99 and a savings of £100 on Sony PS3 game consoles.*

Jon Fisher, store director, comments: “We are extremely excited about the new opening, not least because we have an Olympic gold medallist coming in. I know our customers are going to love the new look store and the products available meet the increasing demand amongst local shoppers for digital and converging technologies . We’ve got a lot planned for the opening weekend with bike races against Paul Manning and some incredible deals.”

The in-store re-vamp aims not only to update the look and feel of the store but also offers customers a ‘hands-on’ product experience. Interactive ‘play tables’ have been added allowing customers to pick up, turn on and test out a wide range of products before they purchase. The store also features new areas devoted to some of technology’s best known names. The Apple and Microsoft computing areas are staffed by specialists to offer help and advice as well as a full range of products.

Staff at the Currys superstore, which has employed an additional 60 local Birmingham residents as a result of the refurbishment, have also become amongst the first in the country to be sent on a new training programme, especially designed to ensure they can offer customers the best expert impartial advice and meet all their technology needs.

- Ends –

*Available for first 100 hundred shoppers.

For further information please contact:

Kat McGettigan
Kat.mcgettigan@talkpr.com
020 7544 3804

Nathan Kemp
nathank@talkpr.com
0207 543 4670

About Currys:

Currys is the UK’s biggest electrical retailer with a network of some 500 stores nationwide
Currys' extensive product range includes digital vision, DVD, home theatre, audio, photographic technology, cooking, laundry, refrigeration, computing, communications and small domestic appliances.
The first Currys store opened in Leicester in 1896 – selling bicycles.
Products are available at the same price in-store and online at www.currys.co.uk. 
Currys offers customers a "hassle free" shopping experience with the convenience of seven-day delivery and installation services and comprehensive after-sales support, including 24-hour helplines and a national team of engineers called the Tech Guys.
After research showed more than 50% of customers visit the Currys.co.uk site before entering a store, a simple new ‘Reserve and Collect’ service has been launched. This popular new service will secure items at a designated store in just one hour, at a guaranteed low price.
Currys customers have the option of a comprehensive product support service, whateverhappens™ which offers fast and convenient repairs and technical support.

About DSG international plc:
 
? DSG international plc is one of Europe's leading specialist electrical retailing groups.  It operates a multi-channel approach to electrical retailing and trades through more than 1,300 retail and online stores, spanning 28 countries and employing nearly 40,000 people.  More than 100 million customers shop in-store and online with DSGi every year. 
? DSGi’s retail and e-tail brands include PC World, Currys and Dixons.co.uk in the UK and Ireland, Elkjøp in the Nordic countries, UniEuro in Italy, Kotsovolos in Greece and Cyprus, Electro World in central Europe, Greece and Turkey, PC City in Spain, Italy and Sweden, and Pixmania.com across Europe.
? DSGi offers customers a comprehensive range of after sales services, including our national customer support operation for IT and digital technology, The TechGuys, which offers telephone and home-based support services throughout the UK.  It also runs a multi-brand business-to-business operation in the UK.