Uncertainty continues to surround huge empty shopping units in Wales’ three biggest cities - a year after Debenhams closed its stores for the final time. The retail giant shut its doors in Newport’s Friars Walk Shopping Centre on May 4 last year, and did the same 11 days later on May 15 in Cardiff’s St David’s Shopping Centre and at the Quadrant in the heart of Swansea.
This was just a few months after the company announced that attempts to rescue its 124 stores had failed and that the department store, which had been trading for 242 years, would cease trading. To get the latest WalesOnline newsletters e-mailed to you directly for free, click here.
In January 2021 the firm was sold to online retailer Boohoo in a £55m deal, but that still resulted in the closure of all its stores and the loss of thousands of jobs. As well as the tremor the collapse of Debenhams caused in the job market and on the high street itself, what has become of the large units left empty by the company’s collapse?
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In Cardiff, Debenhams was a main feature on the city’s shopping landscape for generations, and was an anchor store at St David’s Shopping Centre along with Boots, M&S and Primark. The store itself was packed with three storeys full of stock and occupied a total of 65,000 sq ft of space. But now, exactly one year on since it closed its doors for the last time, the store remains empty.
In January, the shopping centre said that it would update shoppers “as soon as we can”, but there are no firm details on what could potentially occupy the huge space in the middle of the Welsh capital. Cardiff Council said any questions about the site are best answered by the owners of the building, but attempts to glean any information from them has thus far proved unsuccessful, leaving the future of the unit as something of a mystery as we head into the summer of 2022.
One area of Wales which has seen something of a pro-active approach in filling a large and empty retail space is Carmarthen. Wales’ oldest town was dealt a huge blow last May when its own Debenhams store shut because it was not only the biggest shop in town but the one that an entire regeneration project had been based around. When St Catherine’s Walk Shopping Centre opened to much fanfare in 2010, it did so tying much of its hopes around the neck of Debenhams, a sprawling two-storey store in the centre’s prime spot.
Since being empty, the unit has, one more than one occasion, been used as a temporary site for pop-up shops, offering local and independent businesses the opportunity to showcase their produce in a high street environment. You can read more about that here.
Furthermore, there are now plans afoot to transform the unit, which was also the venue for the count at the recent local council elections, into a hub to deliver a range of health, wellbeing, learning and cultural services all under one roof. While it may be disappointing to some that the site will no longer be home to a retail giant, the plan, which is still in the early development stages, is expected to see the creation of state-of-the-art leisure, culture, and exhibition spaces alongside health and educational facilities, together with tourist information, customer services and more.
In Newport, Debenhams was the anchor store of Friars Walk when the shopping centre opened in 2015. As with other parts of Wales, Newport city centre has been hit by the closure, with the shopping centre saying last year that it was “exploring potential opportunities for the unit”, offering hope that something could be in the pipeline. However, as is the case in Cardiff, a year has now passed and the unit remains empty. This week, the centre was pushed once more on what the future holds for the unit, and Simon Pullen, centre director at Friars Walk, offered fresh hope that some positive news could be imminent.
“We are currently looking at a number of potential options for the ex-Debenhams store”, said Mr Pullen. “Clearly the unit is a significant size, and was built specifically for Debenhams to their specification when the centre opened, so it is a very bespoke and complex unit. We are however committed to filling the unit as soon as possible with the most appropriate use for the shopping centre and the city that the available space allows, so watch this space.”
Meanwhile, Newport Council has said that although the task of filling such a big unit is "challenging", more information on the retail space is expected in the near future. A spokeswoman for the council said: "Friars Walk, like most of the city centre, is in private ownership and filling such a large space is challenging as the retail climate has significantly changed in recent years as a result of the impact of the pandemic and online shopping.
However, we are working with partners on potential opportunities for the building. The council is unable to give any details at this time but hope more information will be available in the coming weeks and months. The council works in partnership with all stakeholders in the city centre, including the business improvement district organisation Newport Now, as its future is not about one individual business or operator.
"It has been pleasing to see a number of new businesses opening in the smaller units in Friars Walk, and across the city centre including the newly reopened Newport Market, offering a good mix of independents alongside the High Street chains. The council is doing everything in our power to support local businesses and increase that footfall.
"This includes grants to new and expanding SMEs and a unique rate relief scheme on top of the Welsh Government one which means that many city centre business will only pay 25 per cent of their business rates this year. The council also works closely with Newport Now, the business improvement district, on initiatives such as offering free units for a short term to give potential new retailers a chance to test the market."
West of Newport and Cardiff along the M4 corridor and you’ll find that Swansea has also been hit by the closure of shops in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Debenhams had been seen by many people as the beating heart of the city centre’s shopping scene for more than 40 years, having opened at the Quadrant Shopping Centre in 1978. That was, of course, until last May.
While Swansea Council does not own the unit, a spokesman for the local authority said that they “do recognise the importance of this retail site and are continuing to explore options to bring it back into use”. The picture for the shopping centre as a whole seems to be brighter than some had feared, despite the continued uncertainty surrounding the former Debenhams store. New shops have opened elsewhere at the centre, which is maintaining a “stable” footfall, according to operations manager Lindy Emms.
“The closure of Debenhams was a huge loss to the Quadrant and the UK high street,” she said. “However, footfall within the centre has remained stable with many retailers outperforming targets. While we lost Debenhams in 2021, we have since gained several new retailers that offer our shoppers new and exciting reasons to visit, from The Entertainer and Clothing Culture to specialist sport retailers Rugby Heaven and Moti.
"We have even experienced heavy investment in existing stores, most notably jewellery-giant, Ernest Jones, who chose our branch to be the first new-concept store in Wales; this was as a direct result of the exciting Copr Bay developments shaping the city. We have also seen the arrival of many local pop-up stores through the Pop-Up Wales initiative, where we are able to offer more than just retail experiences. Hundreds of people have sought support from our Dementia Hub and the Swansea Pride pop-up alone. We’re proud of how the centre continues to adapt and we are confident that our few remaining empty units will soon be filled.”
Retail expert Laura James, a business and management lecturer and programme manager at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, believes the delay in filling the empty Debenhams units in Welsh cities may be down to a “shift in culture” which means decisions on what can fill such spaces need to offer resilient and effective solutions, thus ensuring a sustainable future for cities and high streets.
“The development and advance in online shopping has certainly caused a shift in consumer behaviour and has indeed demanded that high street retailers re-think their offering,” she said. "A failure to foresee and adapt to this advancement in online shopping behaviours has undoubtedly had an impact on those who have struggled to adapt, with the shift to online shopping being accelerated by Covid.
"This must not be confused, however, with the death of the high street - we are far from this. This is a revival of the high street to new bustling communities and a reinstatement of being the heart of the town. The development of the Carmarthen Debenhams unit in partnership with others has been tremendous and success stories have tumbled out from this which is so encouraging to see. Innovative shopping experiences which offer opportunities to local independent retailers can offer consumers a new shopping experience with diversity and choice.
"Online shopping will continue to grow, but will grow alongside the high street harmoniously with the re-generation of these spaces. Whilst large retailers did pull in consumers, this is not necessarily the case anymore as these retailers move to a more online dominant strategy.”
Mrs James also thinks that innovative yet simple ideas - such as the introduction of free parking offers - can play a key role in bringing shoppers back to the streets in the wake of Covid-19 and the effect it’s had on city and town centre trade since April 2020.
“Just like any other sector, the high street has changed and adapted and this can be advantageous to us as consumers too,” she said. “The high street is our community - a place to shop, to meet friends for coffee, to work and to engage with community projects. Some people will require a degree of enticement and this could be done with free parking and holding community events and this has already been seen in a number of city centres. The best thing we can all do to help our high street is to continue to shop locally and allow it time to grow and flourish.”
Mrs James firmly believes that the glory days of the high street are not a thing of the past. On the contrary, the future can be a positive one for the city and town centre retail market, although it will never look quite the same as it once did.
“We will continue to see the community coming together and hear success stories of our lovely independent local businesses, “ she added. “We will see the partnerships between local authorities, educators and local communities working together closely to empower individuals and drive forward success - listening and adapting to create the bustling high street that will be the new glory days.”
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