WHEN a multi-million pound facelift was unveiled for Worcester's Lychgate centre, the general director of Russell & Dorrell never imagined it would mean the end of one of the city's most famous stores.

Six new fashion outlets, a 356-space car park, along with existing retailers, including Sainsbury's, Monsoon, Jaeger and Top Shop, will all be part of the redeveloped Lychgate Shopping Centre.

But Howard Dorrell said that after several talks with the centre's owner, Tops Estates plc, it became clear to him that the Russell & Dorrell store, a bedrock of shopping in the city, had no future in the Lychgate Centre.

He said the future for independent department stores in the next five to 10 years was becoming more and more difficult due to changing shopping habits.

He felt this, coupled with too much competition in the town centre and the owners wanting to put across a more modern image, was among the main reasons why the store was being forced to close.

"Worcester is unique in that it has ourselves, Beatties and Debenhams - three large department stores," said Mr Dorrell.

"Competition-wise, the town could only ideally cope with one to one-and-a-half major stores.

"And with all the recent development and expansion in retail outlets in Birmingham, things were becoming a lot harder.

"Our department store area covers around 70 to 80 thousand square feet, the equivalent to 30 or 40 individual shops.

"The nature of shopping has changed and that trend will continue.

"I think the owners may be going for a modern image and they did not see us fitting in with that."

Despite the setback, he remains upbeat about the future and is currently in negotiations to find 25,000 square feet of site to operate purely as a furniture business in the city.

"It is sad after so many years, but nothing stands still and if we look back it is wrong. We should keep looking to the future," he added.

"We are looking to negotiate a site for future business within the next four to five weeks.

"I think the name of Russell & Dorrell will continue on the future site."

The current store is set to close by January next year.