Keen shoppers lined up on Thursday morning waiting for the luxury manchester store to open. The Sheridan Outlet sells quality bed linen, towels and accessories at discount prices of up to 70 per cent off original retail prices. 

Victorian area manager Michelle Clear said they were excited to have a store in the city and their property and leasing team spent a lot of time looking into potential sites to locate stores. “We just couldn’t go past Warrnambool,” Ms Clear said. “It’s a beautiful location and a great demographic. We felt there wasn’t a luxury brand represented here in this space in lifestyle living.

“We spend a lot of time researching and doing the analysis of where is the best place for us and this location really amazed me.” 

She said the Liebig Street store and position “ticked all the boxes” with great street frontage and plenty of space.

Ms Clear said while it was an outlet store, customers would have access to the same stock as the Sheridan stores. “We’re really looking to bring all of our core colours and ranges and options to the Warrnambool community. They’re not going to have to travel to Melbourne or to the city to get the full range of Sheridan.”

The opening has created six full-time and casual positions and two Christmas casuals will be hired later.

Manager Jess Williamson has management experience at a range of south-west businesses and said it was a new opportunity for the town. “When we were setting up shop we had people looking in the windows, knocking on the windows and wanting to come in,” she said. “The excitement was there which was great to see. There was such excitement to see something new in Liebig Street.”

Sheridan’s opening comes as traders prepare for this month’s Friday night shopping with selected CBD stores to open until 8pm. Co-organiser and store owner Tracey Togni said the monthly initiative was gaining momentum and traders were looking forward to extending their hours prior to Christmas. 

Traders are also celebrating Liebig Street  being open to traffic after recent streetworks. The Koroit and Liebig Street roundabout was reopened this week after work to repair aging infrastructure was completed.

A Warrnambool City Council spokesman said Koroit Street had also reopened to vehicles after recent works. They continue near the pedestrian crossing and are due for completion by Wednesday.