Shock news that Knees is to move its flagship stores out of the centre of Trowbridge to a retail park will not affect the future of its branch in Malmesbury.

Marcus Holbrow, managing director of Knees, said: “The department store in Malmesbury is unaffected by the relocation of both stores in Trowbridge.”

In Trowridge, the store which has been a central part of the town centre since it was established in 1879, will be re-located to to the Spitalcroft Retail Park from March, 2014.

Mr Holbrow says this will improve their retailing and parking provision for customers.

Mr Holbrow said: “The world of retail has changed significantly and we are embracing those changes. We understand our customers have busy lives that require value and convenience, and feel this move will meet those needs perfectly.”

The store in Malmesbury is known as the place where you can buy anything. In April 2009 it celebrated 130 years of trading with a series of parties and offers in store.

The household department store is famous for its eclectic range of goods, selling everything from Barbie dolls to driving gloves, fridges to ornamental china dogs and sofas to garden shears.

Store co manager Louise Smith said at the time of the celebration: “Customers often draw comparisons with the comedy Open All Hours in which Ronnie Barker plays a shopkeeper seemingly able to sell anything."

She said: “We thought about getting the theme music when our customers are on hold on our phones."

Fellow co-manager Kerrith Soden said at the time: “We’re like the Harrods of Malmesbury, but we’re a lot cheaper.

“It’s a really nice family atmosphere. Like all places we have disagreements from time to time but they are more like family rows than professional ones.”

He added that shoppers also drew similarities to another Ronnie Barker comedy moment, the “four candles” sketch.

He said: “So many people come in and ask for four candles, it’s stopped being funny.”