A revived shopping centre in Ipswich town centre will receive another boost this weekend with the opening of a popular music and entertainment store.

HMV will move to a double unit in Sailmakers Shopping Centre’s Upper Mall on Saturday, February 24, having relocated from its former Tavern Street base.

The retailer has been in Ipswich for almost 25 years and is the last surviving high street music chain in the town centre.

The new store will stock vinyl, CDs, turntables, headphones and speaker docks, as well as blu-ray, DVDs, books, music and film-related clothing and merchandise.

Pete Bowery, manager of HMV Ipswich, said: “It’s an excellent move for us and the progress on the new store is absolutely superb so we can’t wait for Saturday and the opening.

“There’s been an HMV in Ipswich for nearly 25 years so the new store will maintain our presence in the town and Ipswich is such a musical place.

“There have been some big names from round here and Ed Sheeran is the latest but there’s a lot of grass roots music here and people will love the store and everything we’ve got in there.”

The shopping centre, formerly named Tower Ramparts, has come on leaps and bounds since undergoing a £4 million make-over and rebrand.

HMV’s move follows last year’s opening of Oriental fast food outlet Chopstix as well as Best Days Vintage, Emmaus and Ravishing Beauty.

Bosses say the revamp project has created more than 100 new jobs and boosted the local economy by more than £2.5m.

Mike Sorhaindo, manager of Sailmakers Shopping Centre, said: “HMV is a household name in British music and in the high street and it’s a real feather in our cap to have attracted such an important retailer to Sailmakers.

“Music sales are rising, especially vinyl album sales, and despite the attraction of downloads there is still something special about a 12-inch LP in a sleeve, it’s a special piece of property.

“Having HMV here is a fantastic addition to our retail mix which already includes many of the biggest names in retail and it also adds to the attraction of the Upper Mall.

“HMV has undergone a welcome resurgence in recent years and their arrival strengthens our offer, particularly with younger customers, and also makes Sailmakers an even more attractive proposition to other big name stores and that can only be good for the town and the local economy.”