DISCOUNT retailer B&M has confirmed that it will be taking over the former Morrisons site in Tyldesley.
The Shuttle Street Morrisons store, which employed more than 100 people, closed on November 28.
Residents were hoping it would be replaced by another major supermarket chain but B&M revealed today, Tuesday, it will be the new tenants.
The B&M store at The Square in Tyldesley is closing and the staff will be relocated to the bigger site on Shuttle Street.
B&M is already advertising for extra staff for the new store and is planning for it to be open in the 'next few months'.
A spokesman for the company said: “We can confirm that we will be taking over the former Morrisons in Tyldesley.
"We took access yesterday, Monday, and will begin an extensive internal and external refurbishment programme.
“We are all really excited to get the doors open and welcome our new customers through the door in the next few months.”
B&M was formed in 1978 and is now one of the leading variety retailers in the UK, employing more than 22,500 staff and boasting over 500 stores.
But B&M stores are not the sort of one-stop shop selling fresh produce like fish, meat, fruit and vegetables that residents were hoping for.
However they do sell groceries, bread and milk and a wide range of other foodstuffs, and many residents will be relieved that the site does have a future, with the search for a new tenant having dragged on for more than six months.
Julie Grundy from the Tyldesley Together group said: “It's great to hear that the site is being used and that an existing store is expanding and bringing much needed jobs to the area.
“There's also much larger parking facilities for shoppers and direct access via the guided buses, which means accessibility for people visiting from other areas. 
“We need to ensure that the existing B&M building is filled with a relevant retail outlet to encourage further visitors to the town and that we don't lose sight of the need to have a wider choice of traditional supermarkets in Tyldesley which complement the thriving Friday market.”
Matthew James, UKIP candidate for the Tyldesley ward, added: “It is great news that the old Morrisons site is now being taken over by B&M in Tyldesley. 
“Hopefully it will bring more jobs for residents, and with the large carpark on the new B&M site it may bring new shoppers to the store and businesses in Tyldesley. 
“My only concern is that the old B&M site, which has a prime spot on The Square in Tyldesley, will be empty. 
“With Tyldesley once being a great market town I would like to see if the old B&M store could be used as a small indoor marketplace to complement the market on The Square.”
Emma Barton, assistant director for economic development and skills at Wigan Council, said: “We are pleased to hear that B&M Bargains will be taking up another store in the town, bringing with it jobs for our residents.
"This is a key retail site in Tyldesley and it is good news that it will be reopening its doors to shoppers soon.”
However Tyldesley Cllr Nazia Rehman gave a mixed reaction to the news. 
“Not everyone shops online for their regular groceries order and Tyldesley residents who prefer to visit a one-stop shop supermarket, particularly the elderly, have struggled since Morrisons closed," she said.
“People have told us they hoped a company operating a fully comprehensive supermarket would occupy the site. They will be disappointed by this news, which effectively closes out other options.
“However this seems to amount to an expansion of their operation in Tyldesley by B&M, so I would expect jobs to be created and there is also an opportunity, which I hope the company will take, to restore the much missed cash points which people relied upon at this location.”
The Shuttle Street store was one of 11 Morrisons to close last year due to cost-cutting and it left Tyldesley with just one cash machine for residents to use.