Sandersons: Sheffield department store to close at Fox Valley - with talks underway with potential new tenants
A boutique department store at a Yorkshire retail park is to close its doors at the start of March, it has been announced.
Sandersons has been open at the Fox Valley retail park in Stocksbridge to the north of Sheffield since September 2016 but has announced on Facebook it will be closing within weeks.
The company, which has another site in Stroud which will be remaining open along with an online presence, is part of the Dransfield Properties group of businesses which is also behind the wider Fox Valley development.
The Sandersons concept of a boutique department store offering 'something different' to typical high street department stores was created by Mark and Deborah Dransfield. Mrs Dransfield died of cancer in January 2019. Louise Fearnehough is now managing director of the Sandersons business, with Mr Dransfield a director of the business and chairman of its parent company Dransfield Properties.
A total of 19 jobs are affected by the closure decision. The Yorkshire Post understands talks have been taking place with a number of interested parties about taking on the Sandersons space.
A spokesperson for Dransfield Properties said: “Following a review of the business at Sandersons Boutique Store we have made the difficult decision to close the company’s Fox Valley store in early March.
"As a family business, our initial focus will be in assisting all staff affected by our closure at Fox Valley to secure new positions, hopefully within the centre.
"As the owner of Fox Valley as well as the Sandersons brand we have seen Stocksbridge and the surrounding area grow in recent years.
"Fox Valley has become a strong and successful retail destination with increased demand from national retailers to take space and we will be shortly making announcements of our plans to consolidate and grow the centre.
“Sandersons will concentrate its business growth from the store in Stroud and continue to expand the company’s successful online offer, supported by our distribution centre in the Cotswolds.
“Our Fox Valley store will be offering some great deals across our top brands during our closing down sale and new stock will be introduced each week.”
A statement on the Sandersons’ Facebook page said: “We would like to thank our amazing team and all of you who have enjoyed and supported us over the last eight years.
"We have loved being part of the community here but it’s now the right time for us to step aside and allow other businesses to take over this gateway store.”
In March 2024, another Sandersons store in Morpeth was closed to make way for three new retailers to move into its space at Sanderson Arcade, which is also owned by Dransfield Properties.
In the same month it was announced that Sandersons store in Stroud was being downsized to free up space for the arrival of another retailer. It is based in the Dransfield Properties-owned Five Valleys shopping centre.