SEVENTEEN jobs have been created with the opening of a new budget shop in Weymouth town centre.

PoundStore is occupying premises in St Mary Street previously home to another single-price discount store, Poundland.

Poundland has another branch in New Bond Street.

Mayor and Mayoress of Weymouth Kevin and Anne Brookes were invited to cut the ribbon to declare the new PoundStore branch open.

The discount retailer says it has invested £300,000 in the premises.

It says that customers "queued from the early hours" to benefit from special bargains to mark the shop's opening. Staff served free drinks to keep them warm while they waited.

When it did open its doors, a trolley dash was held to support Weldmar Hospicecare Trust.

Volunteers from the cancer support charity took charge to test their shopping skills in the timed challenge. Within the 100-second time limit, they rushed around the shop grabbing as many items as they could and securing £98.

PoundStore, which sells household and food items, says the 17 new jobs created are both full and part-time positions.

The area manager for the group, Johnson Baddhity, said: “It was an amazing grand opening with a lot of locals extremely interested to join us on the morning to help celebrate."

Managing director Gerry Loughran added: “We were incredibly pleased to have the mayor and mayoress attend our new store opening and also that £98 worth of donations went to a very worthwhile cause.

"We will continue to work with a number of charities going forward, continuing the Trolley Dash challenge for new PoundStore openings nationwide."

He added: “Our Weymouth PoundStore opening marks yet another hugely successful PoundStore launch. Hundreds of customers visited the brand new store to grab all the bargains on offer, with the queue beginning from the early hours of the morning.

"We look forward to welcoming all our customers at Weymouth where we provide a wide range of branded products and great bargains every day.”

The group opened 22 stores across the country last year (store sizes between 4,000 and 8,000 sq. feet). It plans to launch a further 75 more stores nationwide this year.