New store will bring 12 jobs to a Borders town

Keith and Angelena Johnson have purchased the former Yeomans outdoor leisure outlet at numbers 51/53 in the town’s high street and are busy converting it into a Tescos One Stop outlet.

It’s not only a timely boost for the town but also an exciting time for the couple and they are currently hiring the staff needed to get the business up and running.

Angelena said: “My husband and I were looking at different ideas and jumping in the car to have a look and when we saw the former Yeomans shop we decided that was the one we wanted, particularly as the flat above it was up for sale and we moved from Edinburgh to Hawick. We have been here since June and are preparing to open sometime in early December, definitely before Christmas.”

Retail is a brand new venture for the couple.

Angelena, 50, has run a beauty salon and a pub in the past and her husband Keith, 56, worked offshore.

She added: “We are staring to interview for staff and coming into the community at this time we knew people were going to want jobs and everybody has been so welcoming to us. There will be 12 full and part-time jobs and we’ve had more than one hundred applications. We will be stocking a good range of One Stop products which are affordable to people on a low income.

“We are very excited to get going and get open now. Keith and I are going to be hands on for the first six months because it is all new to us, that’s why we got the flat above. The people who join our team are going to be learning from scratch like us. I’ve had such lovely people apply and I said to Keith ‘oh, my God, I’m going to have to let people know there is not a job for everyone’.”