A NEW shop is set to open in a former KFC building later this month.
Card Factory has confirmed it will open in Unit 7 at Guiseley Retail Park, in Park Road in late February.
It comes on the back of a planning application for two internally illuminated fascia signs that emerged in late November last year, that have since been approved.
The greeting cards and gift shop replaces KFC, which occupied the unit for almost two decades until it closed last year.
A spokesperson for Card Factory said: “We’re delighted to be opening a new store in Guiseley later in February, offering customers a wide range of great value cards and gifts, as well as those all-important wrap, balloons and party accessories.
“The new store features bold, bright signage and navigation, making it easy for our customers to find everything they need to create celebrations for all life’s moments.”
Signage was already up on the exterior of the building, which is shared with Greggs, when the Telegraph & Argus visited on Wednesday.
There were new shelves inside the store but no stock yet.
Rumours circulated on social media last summer that the unit may become a Taco Bell or Burger King but those were put to bed when the signage application, featuring Card Factory branding, appeared on Leeds City Council’s planning portal in late 2024.
These were approved on January 21 this year.
The application was for two signs on the roof of the unit – one five-and-a-half metres long facing towards the retail park and the other seven-and-a-half metres long and facing the main road.
Both are to be fully illuminated by an LED Neon Flex trough light, running the full length of each sign, according to the plans.
They also included Card Factory graphics, to be installed internally, and directions that the existing shopfront would be cleaned down.
A planning application was submitted on November 19 last year for a “cosmetic refit” to the retail unit and this was approved conditionally on December 3, with building work underway.
The premises date back to the 1990s.
In 1994, a planning application for a new-build restaurant for Pizza Hut was put through, with its status reading “building work complete”.
In 2005, a premises licence for a KFC was issued and this was later superseded by a newer licence version.
