Businesses in a Nottinghamshire town are hoping for a big chain to come and revitalise it and bring back some of the footfall lost by traders. Over the last few years Newark’s town centre has slowly become emptier, seeing many big names and small businesses close up shop in the area or move away from the town centre, including Marks and Spencer, Superdrug, Monsoon and Shoe Zone.
The pandemic made things more difficult for small businesses, but, despite the recent closures, many are still thriving in the town. Owner of Petit Versailles, Hajra Kemari, opened her store in Stodman Street in 2015 but, after her business grew quickly, she moved to her current store, further up on the same street.
When asked about the empty stores, Hajra suggested changes to businesses rates. Hajra also feels that retailers need to consider their premises from the outside and look up, making sure that windows are showing attractive displays rather than rubbish as “people do look up at the town’s buildings, so we all have a part to play in making them as attractive as possible”.
Now that pandemic restrictions have eased Hajra is in high demand for wedding work and has appointments booked well in 2023. She added: “The retail side is doing well due to; I believe, the uniqueness of goods and fair pricing.
“I am very proud to be a retailer in this lovely town, and I would encourage everyone to come into town and enjoy the unique businesses that we have.”
Co-owner of Simply Sweets, James Singer, says, despite the business being opposite the former RST Music store, it has just had its most successful eight months, from even before the pandemic. James said: “I think it’s like we have always said, if you are not selling the right product at the right price people are not going to buy it from you, and it’s hard to compete against the internet and its only getting harder.
“We compete against a lot of other sweet shops online; people think they are getting a bargain because it’s online but it's only when they come in that they realise.” He added that it was hard to see all the empty shops but that Newark is “no different to any other town”.
“It feels like the town needs refreshing since Marks and Spencer [in St Marks Lane] left so I think we just need another big chain to come into the town, just to get a bit more footfall. I think a lot of people think the council can influence shops, but they can’t as they are all privately owned. If the landlords are happy for the buildings to stand empty until they get the rent they want, then they are always going to stand empty.”
Before the pandemic James explained that he and co-owner Andrea Ward were very focused on the experience of customers but now they are having to look at the wider picture and being able to service customers from hundreds of miles away.
He added: “There is always concern, one bad month can turn a small business around but also one great month can turn a business around.” Carly Carpenter opened Flossie & Boo in 2019, just a few months before the pandemic hit.
She said: “At the start obviously it was tough, it made me really think about how I was going to get my customers' products without them being in the shop, so I went out delivering and I think that customers really appreciated the service and stayed loyal.”
However, Carly has noticed a clear drop in the town’s footfall since the pandemic, as there is a smaller number of shops to encourage people into Newark. Carly said: “The footfall in Newark is not great at the moment, usually Wednesdays have a bustling market and there’s lots of people, but there’s hardly any market stalls out there.
“It’s a bit of a ghost town at times but having the big shop window means I can see when it is busy or not. We are all thinking the same thing, how are we going to drive people back into the town.”
Despite being open for more than two years, Carly finds it surprising how many people in Newark are still unaware that her shop exists and is using her website and social media to try and reach people. Another local business thriving after lockdown is WiseGuys Menswear in Middle Gate, who will be moving into a larger unit later this year in Stodman street.
Martin Bishop, manager of WiseGuys Menswear, said: “We have so much different variety down this street and a good 90percent of them are all independents. We have just completed five years in here, so now we have got the opportunity to do it on a bigger scale.”
Owner and managing director of the WiseGuys Menswear, Mike Willis, said: “From our end we have outgrown this unit as we have been here for five years.” The new location in Stodman Street is a joint venture with WiseGirls, which is owned by Mike’s daughter, Samantha John.
Whilst Stodman Street currently has several empty stores, Mike added: “During the day you get the impression its quiet, but they are all evening businesses.” Martin added that it is important to for people to “shop local and love where you live” to help increase the town’s footfall and for businesses to be responsive to customers.
He said: “When you are a chain you cannot be responsive, whereas someone like me here, we can be responsive to local conditions, but when you are manager of a chain you are likely to sit on your hands, but when it’s your business you make your own luck.”
WiseGuys recently experienced a break in, and other business owners have reported a rise of anti-social behaviour in the town, believing that groups of empty shops make certain areas easier to target. Beanblock Café opened almost a year ago in St Marks Place by co-owners Cate Martin and Aliki Allen, who say it was quiet when they first opened and they did not know whether it was because they were a new business or because of the pandemic - but business has picked up a lot since then.
Aliki said: “We are on St Marks Place and obviously there’s a lot of shops closed here and because there’s so many closed shops, we seem to be a magnet for anti-social behaviour. We have had kids light the lift on fire, we have had them going up to the top and throwing things off, and for us that is a massive concern as we have young children walking to get here.”
Ailiki would like to see more boutique style shops in the town, she said: “Marks and Spencer were a great attraction and obviously I think it’s about having different things in the town as well. There are a lot of empty units and I think conversations need to be had between the council and our landlords about how they are going to fill these units.”
Owner of Pet Foods Plus, Matthew Wells, has also experienced anti-social behaviour and said that recently a group kicked in his front door, which was done with such force that it has caused structural damage to his store. Matthew said: “It’s the first time in a long time, we have been open almost 22 years and it’s the second time it has happened, but they have damaged it so badly we need a whole new shop front.”
His store is also situated on St Marks Place, next to the empty building that was formerly home to Marks and Spencer. Matthew added: “Footfall has gone down massively since Marks and Spencer closed.”
He is “baffled” over the relocation M&S to the Maltings Retail Park. There have been discussions of transforming the former Marks and Spencer site into town centre apartments and smaller retail units.
In recent days, plans have come to light for a new B&M that's set to open at the Northgate Retail Park off Lincoln Bridge Road. There is also a big TK Maxx at the same retail park and a Wilko in St Marks Lane. But the likes Dorothy Perkins, FatFace and MaxiSaver have all closed in recent times.
