Bosses at Hughes Electrical said the shift towards online shopping and the rising popularity of click-and-collect services underscored a £1m investment to replace its existing town centre outlet with a new store in Great Yarmouth.

The EDP Top 100 firm is to open the new store on the former Two Bears Hotel site of Pasteur Road, which will be demolished to make way for the new 5,500sq ft development.

Hughes wants to open the store early next year at which time its existing store in Market Place will close with staff switching to the new site. Its Gorleston store, which continues to trade profitably, is unaffected by the changes.

Robert Hughes, managing director said changing consumers habits had seen sales in the store decline by 20pc in the last decade prompting the need for a fresh approach similar to changes already made at other stores such as North Walsham.

'Consumers want everything on one floor, they want easy access and on-site parking for click-and-collect,' Mr Hughes said. 'We have held on for as long as we can, but there is only so long that you can keep going around that same problem. Even if we didn't move out to Pasteur Road, we would have to find another solution.

'We see this very much as a vote of confidence in Great Yarmouth and its future and are delighted with the prospect of opening our new store.

'It will enable us to respond to the demands of today's customers who want easy access by car with free parking outside the store in order to collect items ordered online. They also want to see a wide range of products on one level. Our new Great Yarmouth store will offer all of this which sadly our current store can not.'

The site is to be purchased from Citygate Developments who obtained planning consent for the development in December.

He said the original historic statues of the two bears will be carefully removed (before demolition) and will feature prominently in the new store's design.

He said the business had also noticed a surge in sales on 'Black Friday' last November which saw retailers promoting huge discounts particulary online, which had outstripped store sales for the day.

'We have seen a major change this Christmas. Our footfall in our shops has been broadly 10pc lower during the season but our sales are unchanged - clearly people are coming out better informed and have tended to buy a better quality product. We have 30pc more visitors to our websites and done 10pc more business.

'That's really opened our eyes,' he said.

Jonathan Newman, Great Yarmouth's town centre manager, said: 'It is disappointing for the town centre that Hughes has not done as well as expected in the Market Place.

'Its decision seems to fit the pattern of other electrical retailers such as the Dixon Store Group which recently reported good trading figures but relies more on out of town locations.'

However, he said other indicators pointed to a more positive future for the town centre.

'The vacant shops situation is no worse than this time last year and an analysis of footfall in the town centre in the build-up to Christmas showed Yarmouth performing better than the general national picture.

'Ellandi, the new owner of Market Gates, is very positive about the outlook for Yarmouth town centre and has revealed its plans to bring a number of new retailers into the town.'

However, he said there was no hiding from the challenges posed by the online revolution which had seen footfall in town centres across the country declining by 20pc in the past five years.

Part of the strategy of the Bid (Business Improvement District) was to put on a programme of events.

'Our Christmas fair and late-night shopping saw an increase in footfall; it is about attracting an audience as well as providing an attractive shopping offer.'