Five New Jobs Created As Pawnbroker Opens Third City Centre Shop

Sept. 16, 2009 - PRLog -- The opening, by Ramsdens Financial Ltd, of a third shop in Leeds city centre has created five new jobs.

While manageress Andrea Smith has transferred to the Kirkgate outlet from Ramsdens in Morley, all her staff have been taken on directly as a result of the new store opening.

These include two people – Andrea’s Assistant Manager Alison Shilloto and full time Counter Assistant  Lisa Holman – who have previously worked with Ramsdens main UK competitor Herbert Brown.

The third full time employee for the Kirkgate shop is 18-year-old former call centre worker Toni Sherman.

Kirkgate is Manageress Andrea’s sixth shop in her eight years with the company. The one-time hairdresser, who originates from Sunderland, joined Ramsdens Financial Ltd and has never looked back, working first as an assistant in the Washington franchised outlet.  

Her other roles included jewellery manager and then buyer before moving to the Leeds area in 2007 to manage two shops.  She managed the Merrion Centre shop and also took charge at Morley while Ramsdens directors sought an opportunity to have a more central city base.

“Whatever service I do for Ramsdens, I love it because of the customers,” said the 42-year-old. “People have said that if I were a stick of rock, I would have Ramsdens written right through me and it’s true – it’s more than a job to me!”  

Two other members of staff will be based in the new outlet but have a remit to move around all the Ramsdens in the Leeds area according to need. One of them, Jaki Ambler, was made redundant when Principals closed down: the other, Tristan Lewis, used to work for Ramsdens but left to live in New Zealand. A return to the UK was not planned but, when it happened, he did not hesitate to ask his former employer for a job again.

“It’s a great company to work for,” said Andrea. “It has a fantastic training department and strong values which combine to create a really good working environment!”

With a presence across most of the north of England and Scotland, Ramsdens has been a trusted and reliable source of short-term cash loans since the 1950s.  

In the past year alone, it has added eight new outlets to its chain (including Kirkgate), taking it into Scotland for the first time and giving it a portfolio of 43 outlets altogether with plans for several more in the forthcoming months.

As well as outlets in Briggate and the Merrion Centre, Leeds has two more shops in the wider Leeds community – at Harehills and Morley. All but the Merrion Centre also operate as jewellers.

The newest shop – in the former Thomsons travel agency – is the most central.

Andrea’s position at the Morley shop has been taken by Tracy Powell, previously manager at Ramsdens, Halifax. The 44-year-old has worked for the company for three years.

“Morley is much bigger than the Halifax shop and sells jewellery. It also does a lot of foreign currency so is a much more interesting job for me,” said Tracy.

Last month (August), Ramsdens became the first high street pawnbroking company to set up an internet service to extend its services to customers unable to easily access one of its stores. Find out more at www.PremierPawnbroking.co.uk

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Ramsdens4Cash is the retail pawnbroking service of Ramsdens Financial, one of the UK's leading relationship lenders. We're also one of the largest buyers of scrap and unwanted gold and jewellery.