Barrhead Travel has named the next five locations for new stores opening in early 2020.
New branches are due to open in Birkenhead, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Doncaster, Stockport and Darlington in January.
The five locations will take the total number of new shops to 12 after the agency chain announced it was opening stores in Liverpool, Widnes, Wallasey, Burnley, Isle of Wight, Northwich and Warrington in October.
All 12 teams have completed induction training at Barrhead’s training academy with some already taking bookings through social media channels and online enquiries while premises are being prepared.
Jacqueline Dobson, president of Barrhead Travel, said a number of the stores were very close to completion with an estimated 20 due to be open by quarter one.
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“As we prepare to launch our first 20 stores before the end of quarter one, we’re drawing on resources from existing Barrhead Travel employees as well as our new expansion team,” she said.
“We have a project team who are working hard to support the opening of our new branches and it’s exciting to see each launch take shape.
“We are continuing to make sure that putting people first is at the centre of our strategy as we accelerate our expansion plans.
“Training has been prioritised for our new-starts to help immerse them into our brand. It was also really exciting to welcome some of our new managers to both our managers and partner conferences which were held last month.”
Burnley will be the first store to open with a soft-launch planned for December 7 and 8.
The team is made up of former Thomas Cook employees who have been taking bookings in the town over the past few weeks thanks to demand from former customers.
Barrhead Travel was acquired by Travel Leaders Group in 2018.
The group appointed former Thomas Cook senior managers Chris Mottershead, Kathryn Darbandi and Nicki Tempest-Mitchell to spearhead the store expansion.
Barrhead Travel has also appointed Phil Hudson-Evans to head up training specifically for the new recruits and Catherine Finlan who will head up sales for the new stores.