Waterstones has confirmed its St Giles Centre store will close on Friday but has stressed it remains committed to Elgin.
The book retailer has been a long-standing tenant in the shopping centre for more than 20 years.
Its presence in the St Giles Centre stretches back to when it traded as Ottakar’s, before it was merged into Waterstones in 2006.
Today the retailer confirmed its current store in Elgin would cease trading by the end of this week.
However, they stressed all staff had been retained in roles in Inverness and it was “considering all options” to remain trading in Elgin.
Staff could be seen today packing up window displays in the St Giles Centre unit.
A Waterstones spokeswoman said: “It is with great regret that we confirm that Waterstones in the St Giles Centre will close its doors by the end of day on Friday.
“We are very disappointed that we must leave and we will consider all options to remain in Elgin.
“In the interim, roles for all members of the Elgin bookselling team have been found in our Inverness shop.”
Future of St Giles Centre businesses
Waterstones is just one of many St Giles Centre businesses that have left the door open for a return to Elgin in a new location.
All businesses face being made homeless on Monday when the shopping centre closes its doors for the last time.
However, Vodafone has also stressed they “plan to remain in the town”, Asher’s say they want to open another branch and Ramsdens say they are “committed to operating in Elgin”.
Meanwhile, mobile phone operators O2 and EE say they are also still considering their options following the closure.
What happens now?
The St Giles Centre is due to close its doors for the last time at 5pm on Monday.
However, it is now likely that almost all retailers will have closed their doors by the end of this week.
Arrangements for the future of Elgin bus station are yet to be confirmed.
Moray Council and Stagecoach say they are still in discussions about confirming where services will be run from.
However, it is understood one option under consideration could be continuing to run buses from the current location.
Read more from St Giles Centre
- No shops, more than two years late and a bankrupt developer: The saga of how the St Giles Centre in Elgin finally opened
- ‘Help us save St Giles Centre businesses’: Urgent call issued for Elgin landlords with vacant units to provide new homes for retailers
- How St Giles Centre redundancy taskforce is providing support to more than 100 staff affected by closure
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