Retail giant Debenhams has confirmed when it will reopen its eight stores in Wales.
It came after First Minister Mark Drakeford confirmed that non-essential retail outlets can reopen in Wales from Monday, providing they adhere to strict social distancing.
The stores in Bangor, Cardiff, Carmarthen, Llandudno, Llanelli, Newport, Swansea and Wrexham will open on June 23rd.
The decision brings Wales into line with England, where non-essential retailers opened their doors on Monday.
It also opened its stores in Northern Ireland last week. It will reopen its stores in Scotland on June 29th in Ayr, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth.
At one stage the retailer threatened to closure its stores in Wales for good after the Welsh Government decision not to provide business rate holidays for a year for firms in the hospitality, retail and tourism sectors impacted by pandemic with premises having a rateable value of more than £500,000.
The Welsh Government said the £117m it saved from the move has been assigned to its £500m Economic Resilience Fund to support smaller firms.
As a result of emergency business rate holidays and grants announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak for England in March, the Welsh Government received a £1.1bn budget consequential.
If followed the same support measures as the UK Government, apart from those firms with rateable values of more than £500,000.
However, local authorities in Wales have used their discretionary powers to provide business rate holidays for Debenhams on its stores.
Managing director of Debenhams, Steven Cook, said: “After 10 days of trading in Northern Ireland and England, demand has been above plan, particularly for beauty, kidswear and summer fashion, and we have not seen any cannibalisation of our online performance.
“We look forward to welcoming Welsh and Scottish customers back to our stores in the coming weeks in the confidence that our customers and colleagues are finding our extra safety precautions reassuring without impeding their comfort or convenience.”
