Turns out I was half right (if you believe HDM) The shops leaving St Stephens, or at least Zara, are doing so because of proposed rent rises. http://m.hulldailymail.co.uk/doroth...r-zara-quits/story-30290677-detail/story.html
Yes, but we were talking about the shops on Whitefriargate, rents have dropped everywhere other than in St Stephens, it's simple supply and demand. Though if we're losing decent retailers in there and replacing them with discount ones, they've probably set the rents too high in there as well. There's very little HCC can do about the rates, they're set nationally and they're about to be increased, which is going to make things worse (though pretty much everyone I know has filed a claim for a rate review).
This is obviously the problem, footfall has dropped significantly due to the internet and out of town shopping, yet rates haven't dropped at all. You only get large amounts of people out shopping if you offer an experience that does get people up of their backsides and that now involves offering something other than just shops. The most successful areas are those that have managed to get the right mix of restaurants, bars and shopping. Carnaby Estate is a brilliant example of how this can be done. Twenty years ago, Carnaby Street (and its environs) was a dump, a couple of old mod shops, a couple of tourist shops selling 'I Love London' rubbish, with all the streets around it completely abandoned. Now, the nine streets that make up Carnaby Estate are all full with bars, restaurants, shops, pop-up galleries, there's live bands in the street, catwalk shows, all sorts of entertainment and it's some of the most sought after retail space in central London.
Stick a rollercoaster in Princes Quay? Worked up north for a while in one of their shopping centres (although, they did then remove the rollercoaster a while ago).
Footfall has never been as good as the last few months have in Hull, it's busy all the time now. If shops are still going then that's a very bad sign.
Particularly Zara. Aren't they the world's biggest fashion retailer? To not have a presence in Hull would be very bad.
The Metro Centre was the biggest shopping centre in Europe at the time, the bit with the rollercoaster alone was the size of Prinny Quay. It was **** as well.
OLM will know better than me, but from what I can see in the fashion sector online sales are increasing. I'm just going on my daughters way of buying now, she always bought clothes from shops and used to be in town every Saturday shopping, she virtually buys everything on line now. Therefore in smaller Cities, maybe there just isn't enough population and footfall to make a shop viable.
Has the Tesco's parking charges affected shops in St Stephens? I know if I used to pop in on a lunchtime I went there. Not just cos it was free but because it was convenient too Now I tend not to as you have to shop in Tesco's (I think)...which I wouldn't be Therefore I don't wander through very much at all now
I know it's convenient and you can get it a lot cheaper but I hate it. I think women just like buying stuff to send it back. "Did you get return labels" is all I ever here. No it should fit I'm the same size feet,for,the last 30 years love... nope,send the ****ers back they're massive.