RETAILING giant, Bhs the independent chain formerly known as British Home Stores - was tightlipped last week about strong rumours that it has purchased the Littlewoods site in the Octagon shopping centre.

Although an official spokesman refused to comment, the Free Press has learned from a reliable source that the new store will open on October 22 under the Bhs banner.

Thames Valley Chamber said whatever happens it is important that a major retailer takes over the site to provide jobs in the area and benefit the economy.

"With the retail sector being hit so hard recently with the decrease in High Street spending, the area cannot afford for this space to become unused retail space," said Tom Endean, public relations executive.

"Wycombe is a prosperous area and it is imperative that retailers still see the advantages of investing in the area and are looking to open new retail outlets in Wycombe."

Behind the scenes, management and union discussions have been taking place since July when Littlewoods announced it had been taken over by Primark in a £409m deal.

Some stores in the UK were earmarked for conversion to expand the fashion business and others sold off.

A decision was made to sell the Wycombe store with assurance that existing Littlewoods staff would be found new jobs within the chain or helped to find fresh employment.

Liverpool-based Littlewoods announced in the summer that the sale would give it an opportunity to focus on catalogue and online businesses which have annual sales of about £2bn.

"Our stores business has less than a one per cent market share and it could never be as dominant as our home shopping business," said David Simons, chairman of Littlewoods Shop Direct.

Since the shock announcement officials at the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) have been helping staff map out their future and examining a variety of options including working for Primark elsewhere in the country.

Spokesman Paul Clarke confirmed Wycombe was not on the conversion list and Primark had announced it would sell to another major retailer.

"Usdaw made a clear commitment that we would seek talks with any new owner to make the compelling business case for taking on highly experienced Littlewoods staff.

"If it is confirmed that Bhs are taking over the site then we will approach them.

"The skill set required by a company such as a successful retailer like Bhs would seem a good fit with the vast experience of the Littlewoods staff.

"Usdaw thinks this strengthens the case for employing the team that know this site best," he said.

He explained the deal agreed at the time of sale and purchase was that staff could transfer to Primark if there were suitable vacancies.

If at the end of the process staff face losing their jobs, the union will ensure they get the best possible deal under the Littlewoods redundancy scheme, he added.