John Lewis......should be allowed :)

happy_gardener

I can only see the benefit of John Lewis to Sprucefield.
Jobs, people travelling to spend. No brainer....

It should be allowed....

shawbarbara

I agree John Lewis should get the go ahead!

Old_Git

what will JL give that is not already available here .I looked at there site and I dont see anything special linky

irishjohn

John Lewis - still operates in the traditional Department Store style - amazing product range under one single store - I cannot think of its equivalent currently operating in N Ireland anywhere - but it seems Mr Attwood is minded to deprive N Ireland of such an excellent retail outlet. Shame on you Mr Attwood

shalis

I totally agree with Irish John. If you have ever shopped in one of the JL stores the first thing you will notice is their whole ethos is customer-based. You do not get the usual "If it's not out (on display) then we don't have any" which is a common experience in many other large stores, or staff huddled together in conversation when you clearly could do with some help. As all their employees are apparently shareholders they have much more interest in their customers. Nothing is too much trouble, and their after sales is, in our experience unrivaled. Also, as far as I am aware they do NOT charge extra to deliver to NI. How many times has that subject come up on this Board? When I have commented in some of their stores, about the wrangling they have faced here in getting plans off the ground, staff are simply bewildered. I have heard arguments about them taking money out of our economy if they came here. What about all the other Multi-Nationals and Mainland-based stores already in NI. Their profits are going back there too.
Mr Attwood has scuppered JL coming to Sprucefield, and funnily enough the talk is now that they could "just maybe" come to Belfast instead. How convenient, and no worries about traffic, access, parking etc. not to mention that Attwood has also effectively pre-empted the public inquiry. How could they possibly give the go ahead, when it will not now be approved by Govt.?
If I were JL, I would quite simply say that enough is enough. 10 yrs of wrangling and still no end in sight. B***er the lot of them. We're out of here. Let's go to the Republic. I live in Belfast and I hope they do not go there now. It would be a victory for all those ner goods whose noses were really knocked out of joint at the thought that such a prestigious store as JL would have the audicity to even consider anywhere other than Belfast to locate their first store in NI. We do not deserve good stores like JL here. Shame on Attwood. He probably wants to get this one done and dusted before someone else takes over his current role.

irishjohn

While living on the UK mainland I was a regular in John Lewis - because their customer service was first rate. I have a feeling John Lewis would struggle to staff a store here in N Ireland - not sure they could find enough people with the right customer service skills to match the company vision.

Its an interesting approach Mr Attwood wants to take - and I am 100% certain that behind closed doors there are conversations going on to try and convince J lewis to be the anchor store for the proposed new development off Royal Ave. So 10 years from now the brands in Victoria Square will have moved to the new complex, the strugglers in Castlecourt will be enticed to move to Victoria Square and someone in Government will be looking at how to redevelop the fast declining Castle Court with all its empty shops. Or maybe they will be booming with lots of retail outlets selling flags and other cultural ephemera!!

Here is the attitude of our Planning & Development Czar

Mr Attwood said the new restrictions to the Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan (BMAP) were part of a strategy to promote Northern Ireland's capital city as the leading shopping location.

The minister said he wished to assist the commission and all parties to the inquiry by releasing his department's decisions on those parts of BMAP relevant to the planning application in advance of the final adoption of BMAP, expected at the end of March.

"I am strongly committed to putting Belfast first in these difficult times," he said.

"This is consistent with the revised Regional Development Strategy 2035 which aims to strengthen Belfast as the regional economic driver and the primary retail location in Northern Ireland. My decision today will support that as evidence indicates a high vacancy rate. I intend to take a precautionary approach to retailing."


A very laudable idea but - John Lewis and other retail giants have invested much in research and development and they know what business model works for them.

They know their business model based on an out of town site with strong transport and communication links over a very large and cross border geographic area will benefit their business and generate profit. One corner in a mixed use city centre development will not attract the same numbers or profit and is also likely to be more costly in terms of rent and business rates.

I cannot see any small town small minded politician who seems to think he knows best changing their minds. All he will do is drive them out of Northern Ireland completely and probably into somewhere north of Dublin.

I guess i shall continue using their internet site, buying the quality I want, paying competitive prices and enjoying free delivery as long as i meet their very affordable minimum sales level (£30 last time I looked)

Mistral001

The people buying bankrupt stock will do well anyway if this goes ahead. I am afraid there are only so many goods that people can buy. If they start buying at a large department store like there will be fewer goods bought at existing shops and thus it is inevidable that it will cause more shops to close down.

One other thing smaller local shops provide employment not only for the people on the shop floor but back office and small local firms that provide admin assistance such as IT firms and small accountancy firms, book keepers and even advertising firms etc. The big national retail chains usually have their headquarters in GB and most of their admin. work for the store in NI is done outside NI. Thus as far as I can see it will be a net loss in jobs.

energy80s

I actually think that Attwood's stance will do much more to damage Sprucefield than just the John Lewis development. Basically he wants all standard retail outlets kept out of the area and only "warehouse" type stores to operate from the site. That is the real story here.

D.A.

Attwood of course being an MLA for.... Belfast.

*shock*

almillar

Even the Lisburn traders that were against this *said* they weren't against the one John Lewis store coming, but against the numerous other smaller stores that it would bring with it (a bit like House of Fraser in Vic Sq). If the rates of the stores in Belfast (and elsewhere in the province) reflected CURRENT market value rather than the PEAK values of a few years ago, I'm sure there would be fewer empty stores. Rates 'freeze' is pretty laughable.

motorguy

I see John Lewis's have retracted their proposal.