Out-of-town store wars have broken out even before the final bricks have been laid at two giant retail developments on the outskirts of York.

Organisers of the new £90 million Monk's Cross shopping Park, which opens on September 12, are already formulating special cut-price shopping incentives for staff to counter their fears of newly-trained recruits being tempted away by the £60 million Naburn designer outlet village when it opens on November 5.

Interviews are taking place now for many of the 1,000 retail staff expected to be employed at Monk's Cross, where big name High Street stores have booked their places for seven-day-a-week opening.

They include Boots, PC World, Woolworth, Burtons, Principles, Wallis, Warehouse, Suits Direct, JB Sports, Laura Ashley Home and Clark's Shoes

But Lesley March, spokesperson for Hillier Parker, managing agents representing the Monk's Cross Shopping Park Trust, said: "We are concerned to make sure that because Naburn is starting up later that we will keep our staff.

"We are determined to treat everyone there as Monk's Cross employees rather than just retail employees with an induction programme that ensures that they are proud to work at Monk's Cross and gives them a sense of corporate belonging.

"We are working on the possibility of inter-shopping privileges for staff and we are talking with First York to improve the bus transport network for both shoppers and employees."

The fears of staff being lured away come as Monk's Cross employers prepare to converge on a jobs fair at the Jobcentre in The Stonebow, York, on Saturday, July 11, where from 10am for five hours they will be available to talk to job hunters about prospects throughout Monk's Cross.

They include recruiters from The Arcadia Group, Boots the Chemist, Clark's Shoes, Sainsbury's, WH Smith's, Woolworth's, Asda and Allsports.

The Naburn project is not expected to rival Monk's Cross for customers because it will stock relatively inexpensive designer clothes, usually end-of-range, over-runs or previous season's merchandise.

But Naburn is expected to generate the need for around 1,500 jobs over the next two years.

The main shopworker's Union has welcomed the prospect of lures to attract and keep retail staff. A spokesman for USDAW, the Union of Shop Distributors and Allied Workers said: "We are pleased with anything that improves the terms and conditions of shop workers and these kind of store wars are not unusual.

"Hourly rates at Manchester's new Trafford Centre, for instance, have gone up in the face of recruitment rivalries. Our advice to potential York shopworkers is themselves to shop around."

See COMMENT Store wars boost for shop workers

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