A RAPIDLY expanding discount retailer has unveiled a bid to remove a key planning condition limiting the type of products it can sell at its new store in a market town.

B&M Retail, which launched last month in the former Homebase premises in Willow Beck Road, Northallerton, has asked Hambleton District Council to allow it to sell a limited amount of food and drink.

The planning condition was originally imposed on the 4,036sq m store and 569sq m garden centre to protect the vitality and viability of the town centre.

B&M, which employs 50 staff at the site, said while its non-fresh food and drink range would take up less than five per cent of the store's floorspace, its ability to trade successfully as a DIY discounter was dependent on the sales of its ancillary products.

A spokesman for B&M, which sells clearance or short-dated discontinued goods purchased from factories, said discount retailers traded on small net margins and relied on the quantity of lower value being sold items to maintain their profitability.

The net profit margin of B&M is around six per cent and the firm said if its turnover is reduced by 20 per cent, the costs of the business would remain the same, but nearly all profit would be eliminated.

He said: "To those outside the retail industry it may sound implausible that a retailer cannot trade successfully if it were to lose only a small percentage of its turnover.

"The store’s average basket spend is approximately £11.

"Obtaining an extra £1 on impulse buys is highly material to the viability of the store given the low average spend per trip.

"Its unique selling point is purely the competitiveness of its low prices – it does not profess to have branding advantages, loyalty schemes or superior customer service."

Councillor Peter Wilkinson, Hambleton District Council's deputy leader, said the store was a major site for the town's economy, and it was important that it remained occupied.

He said: "We had two businesses, Homebase and B&Q, choosing to exit the town for different reasons, and this store will provide employment and increase visits to Northallerton."

Cllr Wilkinson said following the purchase of Alverton Court - the former Rural Payments Agency offices - by North Yorkshire Police for its new headquarters and the council's plans for the former Northallerton Prison site, the future economy of the town was looking rosy.