Fashion firm Next opens the doors of its new Huntingdon store tomorrow (Wednesday).

It is a return to Huntingdon for the firm which closed its original branch in the High Street nearly four years ago.

The clothing and homeware retailer is offering the first 25 people in the queue a chance of winning a gift card to spend in store.

According to Next, which has created 25 jobs in its new 9,000 sq ft outlet, all of the envelopes contain a gift card between £5 and £100 to spend in store.

The store, in the new retail development at the rear of Chequers Court, includes a Costa and is next door to clothing firm TK Maxx which is set to open for business at 9am on October 12.

Next is adjacent to the recently-opened M&S Foodhall which also marks a return to Huntingdon for the firm which closed its former branch in the High Street in 2009, one of 25 to go nationwide.

Retailer Cards Direct has also just moved in to the new shopping centre which has been under construction for several years and forms the second phase of redevelopment of the Chequers Court area.

Sue Wing, manager of Huntingdon’s Business Improvement District, said: “I think it is fantastic that three major players are opening up close to each other.

“These are exciting times. Footfall is good and the town is really, really busy.”

Huntingdon has just lost its branch of Waitrose but Mrs Wing said she understood the building would be marketed actively.

The former Parsley Pot shop in the High Street is set to reopen as a vaping outlet.

It will be the tenth in the Time2Vape chain which operates in the region.

Director Stewart Smith said they were attracted to Huntingdon because it was the type off thriving market town they wanted to do business in.

“I think Huntingdon is a lovely town to be in and there is definitely money in the retail sector if you do it right,” he said.