A CHARITY has reached new levels with the opening of its very first superstore.

Daisy Chain, a charity supporting children with autism and their families, has taken over an out of town store on Stockton's Portrack Lane.

The brainchild of the Norton-based charity’s chairman of trustees Albert Dicken, one-time managing director of Dickens Home Improvement, the store features a plush split level interior with coffee shop.

He said: ““We are just yards away from the site of the former Dickens Home Improvement hypermarket which, when I was managing director, expanded in the late 70s and early 80s to become the first massive home improvement store in the North.”

And chief executive Judith Haysmore said that the charity store is unlike others in the area.

She said: “It’s been in the pipeline since October last year - quite a short space of time really.

“The charity needed a sustainable income so we can still be there for the parents supporting them - I also think it will raise a lot of awareness about autism.”

The Daisy Chain Charity Superstore is located near the Asda end of Portrack Lane heading towards Stockton town centre.