Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fort William gets another outdoor clothing shop as Go Outdoors reveals high street plans

A new outdoor store is coming to Fort William - but is it what the public wants?

Pictured: Fort William High Street.
Fort William High Street. Image by: Shannon Morrison/DC Thomson

A national outdoor retail chain has revealed plans to open an “express” store in Fort William.

The Go Outdoors Express is understood to be going into the old Tesco unit on the High Street.

The shop would be Fort William’s 11th outdoor clothing shop – understandable, given it is the outdoor capital of the UK.

A social media post shared to a local Facebook group revealed the outdoor clothing and equipment store are looking for staff.

But despite a chance of full-time and part-time jobs for the area, local reaction toward the new store has been mixed.

‘Do we really need another outdoor clothing store?’

Some residents were quick to point out that Fort William already has multiple outdoor clothing shops on the high street.

Instead, they think what the Lochaber town needs is places for non-specialist gear, children’s clothes and shoes.

Retail giant JD Group acquired Go Outdoors in 2016.

Some people were asking why JD Group could not provide Fort William with one of their indoor clothing shops such as JD Sports.

Jillian Wilson commented: “Do we really need yet another outdoor clothing store? Nowhere to buy kids clothing or shoes, same with adults.”

Mary McSorley responded with: “Exactly. Yes it may create a couple of jobs, but the locals need to be catered for too.”

“Nowhere to buy any everyday clothing or footwear. Very frustrating.”

Currently, Fort William has eight outdoor clothing stores on the High Street alone and ten in the area altogether.

This includes Mountain Warehouse, Nevisport, Trespass and locally owned Beinn Nibheis.

Go Outdoors Express stores are more compact, but they will have a full range of stock available to order for collection via in-store ordering.

Some residents have responded positively to the move by Go Outdoors and are optimistic at the prospect of new jobs in the area.

Could the gap in the market be filled by a local entrepreneur?

Bob Rae commented: “Can see why people are saying not another outdoor shop.

“However, it’s a new shop bringing jobs to the area so [it] can only be a good thing.”

Some also argued that it would be great to see the empty unit occupied again.

Commenter Rosie Frampton noted that the strong demand for a regular clothes shop could be an opportunity for a local entrepreneur.

She said: “[This is a] great opportunity for someone to start a business.

“Judging by the comments on this post it would be well supported. Go for it.”

More stories from Lochaber:

Conversation