BARGAIN basement retailer 99p Stores is coming to a town that once was said to be posh for an Argos.

Lymington made national headlines three years ago when Pippa Redman of the Amanini boutique said Argos would not be welcome at the former Waitrose supermarket opposite her premises in St Thomas Street.

At the end of the day Mrs Redman got her wish and the old Waitrose became an M&S food store.

But now, just a couple of hundred yards along the road in High Street, the cut-price 99p Store is moving into the spacious former Woolworths store. And it’s going to open in July.

Store promoter Graham Barnes said: “There was a time when maybe there was a stigma about bargain brand stores. But not now.

“In time gone past some customers parked their smart cars a few blocks away and came in head-down.

“Now it’s head held high, an amble and a marvel at what is on the shelves and a leisurely stroll to the till.”

Jenny Welker, president of Lymington Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was not so sure.

She welcomed the store to the town but said: “It wouldn’t have been my first choice, but it’s nice to see the shop being filled so we haven’t got an empty store there.

“I would have liked to have seen a store come to the town that would have enhanced Lymington, to pull people from Southampton to Lymington.

“I don’t believe that they will come to Lymington for a 99p store.” She agreed people now love a bargain “but there are 99p stores everywhere”.

Mrs Redman was on holiday but her business partner said: “No comment. We had enough trouble last time, thank you.”

99p Stores Ltd co-founder and commercial director Hussein Lanani said the new store, one of 22 former Woolworths being taken over by the company, would create 30 jobs.

“In a way we are giving the public what Woolworths failed to do for so many years and that is to give great value products,” he said.

“Woolworths started out as a 6d shop with everything at one price. We are the 21st century version of this.”