After gaining experience in buying and selling furniture items online, Joseph Shenton and James Pullen have developed a trusted reputation with their Joseph James Furniture stores in Stockport and Stretford.

With a strategy to find distressed or disused retail stores, often on struggling high streets, the school friends felt that the former Wilko unit in St Helens town centre was a perfect fit for their upcoming brand.

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Inside Joseph James' St Helens store (Image: Joseph Shenton)

Describing the business as the "TK Maxx of furniture", Joseph said that the store has a vast range of branded clearing stock at cut-price deals, that are all of "great value and great quality".

From sofas to beds and mattresses to dining tables, the shop's stock will constantly rotate, and the school friends believe that they can attract customers from across the wider region to their new St Helens store, particularly with their large social media following.

There was high praise for the business on its official launch (Image: Joseph Shenton)

After weeks of internal and external refurbishment works, Joseph James received "lots of positive feedback" following its launch on Saturday, April 26.

With a "great influx" of customers over the opening weekend, there was praise both for the business' products and for putting a prominent high street building back into good use.

Highlighting the success of the furniture store's launch, two lorries arrived to replace all the sold items on Monday night, and the business owners say that customers can expect the store to have double its current stock offering in a months time.

The store's refreshments and free easter eggs were also very popular, Joseph explained, with one customer claiming a free £1,000 chair within the first 10 minutes.

The business sells high-quality, end-of-the-line stock at cut price deals (Image: Joseph Shenton)

Joseph, 24, said: "The opening day was a great success, we managed to do £20k worth of sales on the opening day.

"More importantly, we received lots of positive feedback from community members, welcoming the addition to the town centre and compliments on the refurbishment of the building.

"We have also seen a great influx of customers in the store and we hope this continues."

Joseph James Furniture's St Helens unit launched on April 26 (Image: Joseph Shenton)