VIDEO games retailer Chips is planning a nationwide expansion of its store network.

The business, which has its headquarters in Middlesbrough, and branches across the region, including Darlington, Bishop Auckland, Stockton, Northallerton, Redcar and Sunderland, is expanding through a series of Chips franchises.

The first two will open in Skipton, North Yorkshire, and Stafford, near Birmingham, later this month. Both will sell new and second hand video consoles, games, accessories and DVDs.

The openings are the culmination of months of hard work by founders of the business Nik Agar and Don McCabe.

The Stafford store will be run by Susan Lake, originally from Trimdon, County Durham, and her son and daughter Andrew and Angela.

The Skipton store will be run by Peter and Trish Hardy, from Sunderland.

Nik Agar, joint managing director of Chips, said: "We are delighted to be opening two new franchise outlets this month. The franchisees are enthusiastic and very committed. They are exactly the kind of people we want running our franchise outlets.

"We plan to open an outlet in Norwich in the next few months and are trying to acquire sites in the East Midlands. The support networks are in place and we are ready to go national."

Chips Franchise will be exhibiting at the National Franchise Exhibition in Birmingham on October 5 and 6.

The company's e-commerce website, www.chipsworld.co.uk, now records more than 2.3million hits a month.