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DOZENS of people turned out for the opening of a new homeware superstore in Inverness.

The Range has moved into premises at Inverness Retail and Business Park previously occupied by the Homebase chain.

For the grand opening last Friday some people queued for hours in a bid to secure a range of give-aways available to the first customers.

Damian Brown (31), from Inverness, was at the head of the long queue, having camped out the night before.

“It was dry and not too cold, I had plenty of food and snacks and really the last four hours went very quickly,” he said of his experience.

Michael Duncan (49) was impressed with what he saw when he got through the doors.

“My first impression is that this place is magnificent and we could have done with something like this years ago,” he said.

“I am so glad that the old Homebase building has been put to good use by a big firm. The Range is fantastic.”

Store manager Marc Stevens said the opening was probably the proudest moment of his retail career and added: “The Range is a very fast-growing company and going forward we believe it’s going to be a massive success in Inverness.”

Inverness Provost Helen Carmichael performed the official opening.

“It’s good news for Inverness that this building is occupied and that over 80 jobs are being created,” she said.

“I was asking if they had difficulties recruiting because Inverness has quite a high employment rate, but they are really happy about the calibre of people that have come forward.”