OWNERS of the Focus building in Tavistock will be speaking to Sainsbury's and Waitrose amongst other retailers in a bid to find a tenant as soon as possible, they said this week.

Marchfield Properties Ltd has applied for planning permission to split the three-year-old building on the Plymouth Road Industrial Estate into two to 'keep its options open.'

The Focus store will be closing soon after the Focus Group went into administration — only 55 of the 178 stores across the country were sold in three separate deals with home improvement and building supplies firms.

Jonathan James from Marchfield Properties Ltd said Savills and Colliers estate agents in Bristol were marketing the property and several retailers were being approached.

'This is a very prominent site, on the main road and a nice building which is only three years old,' he said. 'We would like to think there would be a demand for it but it is very early days.

'We will be starting to talk to potential occupiers including Sainsbury's and Waitrose as soon as possible to mimimise the period of time it is empty. The planning application is an interim measure to fully market the property.

'The building could be one property or two, we are keeping our options open.'