Future for town centres in NI

stephenni1971

I have just spent an hour or two in my local town picking up a few things for Christmas...

I was quite shocked at how quiet the stores were - nowhere close to what I would have expected for the time of the year. In addition the restaurants didn't seem to be too busy either.

Given that most shops make most (all) of their profits around the Christmas period I would expect that the new year will see some more shops close for good.

Is this just me/my area = North Down - or something more widespread?

oldhand

Think it may be the same all over,I went into lurgan this morning at 11.am,about the same time last year you were queuing up to get into an already well filled carpark but today lots of space and although there were people shopping nowhere near the throngs you see other years.I expect more people are using online shopping now but it seems to be the downturn too,I can see a lot of small,medium shops going to the wall after xmas if they dont get a late surge.

dmxdave

Not only the town centres...I was in Connswater shopping centre today, no queues in Argos (unlike previous years) and Barratts shoes have shut up shop. There are a few empty units in there now.

Mistral001

Could the fact that Christmas is on a Sunday this year mean that there is less of a rush?

One thing that I have noticed is that the big name shops are selling less over-priced gift junk. You know the sort of thing, golf ball cleaning kit for £15 (or rag in a fancy box to you and me) etc. Good to see it.

caz2703

dmxdave wrote: »

Not only the town centres...I was in Connswater shopping centre today, no queues in Argos (unlike previous years) and Barratts shoes have shut up shop. There are a few empty units in there now.

You should have been in Bloomfields yesterday. It was like Wacky Races trying to get through the place. M&S had the right idea and had kept in front of the tills clear but the mall and Tesco were jam packed.

Maybe Bangor town centre would be a good idea tomorrow then?

A.L.D.A

If we don't use it we lose it, simple as that. The future of town centres will be increasingly decrepit as more shops close and as that happens then surrounding businesses also fail. What is the point in having an Estate Agent's outlet or Solicitor's office in an unused street? To make matters worse we charge rates on empty commercial buildings. So expect more to have the roof removed or be demolished. We need to rate commercial buildings based on profit or turnover and not the hypothetical value of the building occupied.

GlynD

I really don't care what happens. My voice carries no weight at all. They decided to build these out of town shopping centres and I know I found it difficult to get anywhere near Craigavon in the lead up to Christmas. Lurgan town centre was much the same. So I did all my shopping online, so did the Memsahib. The planners have created this situation and perhaps someday it'll get to the point where it may again be comfortable to go shopping in town or in the out of town centres. As for the retailers; I don't owe them anything. Let them go the way of rag and bone men. The survival of the fittest is what it's all about and the High Street is full of carp shops. If we only go to the ones which matter to us then they'll be the only ones to survive.

spike7451

caz2703 wrote: »

You should have been in Bloomfields yesterday. It was like Wacky Races trying to get through the place. M&S had the right idea and had kept in front of the tills clear but the mall and Tesco were jam packed.

Maybe Bangor town centre would be a good idea tomorrow then?

I was in Bloomfields around 9am Christmas Eve & the place was quite empty,almost like an average Saturday in there.Mr.Tesco's was relatively quiet so I'm guessing most people shopped earlier this year or online.Donaghadee on the other hand was as bust as usual.In fact it's quite a weird little town,one half of it is thriving yet you go down the hill towards Bridge Street,where Wells Tyres is,& that end is run down & dead..