the old railway line through the town. This linked Ferrers School to Rushden town centre and then out of Rushden to Crown Park, a small out of town retail/business park with a DIY store and Waitrose Supermarket. Retail Rushden has many supermarkets and convenience stores. Once Rushden was home to one of the five Safeway megastores in the country until they were bought by Wm Morrison; the store was then bought by Waitrose and turned into one of its five Food and Home stores which included a selection of home products from John Lewis. In 2006, Asda announced they would build a new £40 million superstore near the town centre. The store opened in the autumn of 2006 and is now one of the biggest supermarkets in the town. In May 2007 Budgens announced it would be closing its store in the town because of the loss of trade to the new Asda store. The former Budgens site is now a Wilko store. Asda added a new petrol filling station with a kiosk shop to the site in the autumn of 2016. Argos operated here until 2021. Rushden Lakes A new £140 million out of town leisure and shopping centre known as Rushden Lakes Shopping Centre opened in July 2017. The development is situated near Waitrose just off the A45, on the site of the former Skew Bridge dry ski slope, also referred to as Rushden Lakes, which had been derelict for some years. The land was purchased by LXB Retail Properties for £4.5 million in 2011 and the development was later sold to The Crown Estate. When finalised, the development will include a cinema, shops, hotels, visitor centre, restaurants, a leisure centre and a marina, with Marks & Spencer as its flagship store. A link to the River Nene will also be incorporated. The new facility will create around 2,000 jobs. Despite opposition from the local councils of Corby, Northampton, Bedford and Kettering, the Rushden Lakes proposal was approved by East Northants Council in October 2012, but the application was automatically referred to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, approved the planning application and gave the go-ahead for the Rushden Lakes development on 12 June 2014. Rushden Lakes the first section of the area opened on 28 July 2017, with shops such as Marks & Spencer, Primark, New Look, JD Sports and H&M opening on