NEIL McKie has signed up for a video games retail franchise after taking advice from his young son.

When he began looking for a franchise opportunity in the North-East, his nine-year-old son, Ian, drew his attention to Middlesbrough firm Chips.

Mr McKie, 47, took his son's advice and has opened a Chips store in John Street, Consett.

"My son is a great games player and he helped persuade me a Chips store was right for me," he said.

It is the chain's 17th outlet and, in common with the others, trades new and second-hand consoles and games for the PlayStation, Xbox, Gamecube and GameBoy. The stores also stock games for PCs and sell DVDs and accessories.

The independent chain has six company-owned stores in Darlington, Northallerton, Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar and Sunderland. The other 11 are franchise outlets, including shops in Bishop Auckland and Hartlepool.

The company's joint managing director, Nik Agar, said: "Chips Consett is our eleventh franchise to open and our third so far this year.

"We have a number of prospective franchisees waiting to open stores and we are confident that we can hit our target of 25 stores this year."

The company is looking for more franchise sites in the North-East.

Anyone interested in becoming a franchisee is asked to visit the website, www.chipsworld.co.uk