Former Woolworths, Princes Street, Edinburgh (29 Jan 2012)

Earlier on I wrote about Edinburgh’s first Woolworths – in Leith – which opened in January 1925, but it was over a year later before Edinburgh city centre gained its own flagship store (#213) at 10-14 Princes Street.

As immortalised in the c1930s postcard below, the store occupied a prime spot on the corner of Princes Street and Waterloo Place, directly opposite the notoriously bracing Waverley Steps. It seems fitting that I should visit Edinburgh the day before the revamped Waverley Steps opened to the public: a project that should make the ‘getting the wind up’ postcard scene a thing of the past.

'Getting the wind up Waverley Steps' postcard, c1930s

The Woolies history site at 100thbirthday.co.uk portrays the Princes Street Woolworths as not just a flagship for Edinburgh but for the whole of Scotland. Happily, the store’s prominent location and status means that it shows up in plenty of old photographs, such as the examples below (click to enlarge).

Undated (early 1900s) postcard view of Woolworths, Princes Street, Edinburgh

1930s postcard view of Woolworths, Princes Street, Edinburgh

In typical Woolies fashion, the store enjoyed a succession of extensions and modernisations over the years, including taking over the site of the Palace Cinema, further along Princes Street (and pictured here), in 1956. The cinema was demolished and a four-bay extension built in identical style to the existing nine-bay Woolworths frontage to Princes Street. You can see the difference very clearly by comparing this shot, on the ScotlandsPlaces website (styled with no apostrophe – sorry!), with my present-day shot from the identical spot.

Former Woolworths, Princes Street, Edinburgh (29 Jan 2012)

As was the typical fate of Woolworths’ biggest shops, however, the Princes Street store was promptly disposed of following Kingfisher’s 1982 takeover of F W Woolworth’s UK operations, closing its doors on 24 March 1984.

Unusually, though, the store’s closure left Edinburgh without a centrally located Woolworths store at all, unlike other large cities in the 1980s – such as Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle – where a smaller store remained open even after the flagship Woolies’ disposal. Until the chain’s eventual collapse in 2008, shoppers in Edinburgh city centre had to make do with the Woolworths stores in either Lothian Road or Raeburn Place – both a good ten-minute walk from Princes Street, and the focus of my upcoming third and final post on Edinburgh’s Woolworths.

The Princes Street property, meanwhile, was divided up into a series of smaller shop units, which, until recently, housed retailers such as Waterstones (no apostrophe there now either), Evans, Boots and Burger King.

The nearby St James Shopping Centre, Edinburgh (29 Jan 2012)

Now, however, the block is once again subject to refurbishment, involving a £12m mixed hotel, leisure and retail scheme that will complement the planned (and much-needed) redevelopment of the nearby St James Shopping centre – as the new St James Quarter – as well as the arrival of the tram. Princes Street’s former Woolworths, unlike the Leith store that I wrote about previously, is at least on the part of the route that is still going to be built.

In the meantime, it’s quite nice how the departure of the previous retail tenants and the removal of their visual clutter briefly allows the building at 10-14 Princes Street to be appreciated as originally intended – as a single entity once more, and a reminder of when it played host to Scotland’s mnost prestigious Woolies.

Lamppost banner showing Leith's Woolworths and tram line - both now defunct (29 Jan 2012)

Last week I blogged about the former Woolworths sites in Hawick and Galashiels, making reference to the relative dearth of Woolies stores in the Scottish Borders.

Head up the road to Edinburgh, however – as I did last weekend – and there’s no such issue. By my reckoning, the city has played host to eight Woolworths stores over the years, and I managed to sneak six of those into my itinerary – the first of which we’ll talk about in a moment.

The remaining two – a traditional Woolworths store at Corstorphine (store #1100, now Benson for Beds), and the former Big W at Milton Link (#1208, and still empty as far as I know) – at least give me an excuse to revisit the beautiful and vibrant Scottish capital before too long.

Former Woolworths (now British Heart Foundation), Leith (29 Jan 2012)

From Woolworths opening its first British shop on 5 November 1909, Edinburgh had to wait a surprisingly long time – until 31 January 1925 – before gaining a Woolies store (#180) of its own. Even then, the shop was at 170-174 Constitution Street in the port of Leith, at the Foot Of The Walk, rather than in Edinburgh proper.

The building, however, clearly predates Woolworths’ arrival (as shown in the early 1900s postcard below), the opening coming a few years before the chain began investing in purpose-built stores in significant numbers.

Early 1900s postcard of the Foot of the Walk, pre-Woolworths

The Leith store lasted until Woolworths’ collapse – closing its doors on 27 December 2008 – and is now, like quite a few other ex-Woolies elsewhere, partially occupied by one of the British Heart Foundation’s furniture and electrical shops. However, my other half’s beady eyes spotted a nearby lamppost banner, promoting Edinburgh’s much-talked-about tram system, on which Leith’s Woolworths still lives on.

Lamppost banner showing former Woolworths, Leith (29 Jan 2012)

Whoever’s behind the poster might well ‘Love Leith’, but showcasing a defunct shop and a tram line that’s no longer going as far as Leith seems a slightly unfortunate way of declaring it!

UGO store, Eston (4 May 2011)

The 20-strong chain of UGO supermarkets is to be snapped up by “a well-known and established brand name”, I understand.

Subject to legals being completed within the next couple of days, all the stores traded by UGO Stores Limited will transfer into the ownership of a new – and as yet unnamed – operator. All store staff will transfer under TUPE to the employment of that operator, though a number of staff at the current UGO head office are expected to lose their positions. It’s not clear whether the UGO brand will be retained, or whether the stores will be rebadged under the new owner’s established fascia.

Signage at UGO store, Eston (4 May 2011)

I understand that UGO’s owner, Arthur Harris, had previously entered discussions, in September, with a national retailer that had expressed an interest in acquiring a major shareholding and substantially investing into the UGO business, in order to secure its future and expansion. However, I’m told that the potential purchaser pulled out of that deal on 11 January – a day ahead of the planned completion date – leaving UGO in what Harris has described as “a very difficult trading position”.

Today’s news comes almost exactly a year since UGO’s press launch, when the fledgling chain’s bosses announced their plans for the tranche of ex-Netto stores that they had acquired. Pledging to be “the icing on the Netto cake”, UGO took over 20 of the 47 sites that Asda was required to divest for competition reasons following its takeover of the Danish hard discounter, including four North East stores at Stanley, Ashington, Eston and Hartlepool.

UGO store, Stanley (2 Dec 2011)

After what Harris admitted were some early “mistakes”, there were signs of improvement instore – in terms of product, offers, price and customer experience – when I visited four of the Hull and Barnsley sites back in November. More recently, however, there has been continued speculation about the business’s prospects, with several Soult’s Retail View readers reporting depleted stock levels at their local stores.

Basket POS at UGO Monk Bretton (11 Oct 2011)

While the ex-Netto stores taken over by Asda and Morrisons seem to have been a big success – taking advantage of those retailers’ existing scale, pricing muscle and familiar brand – UGO, as a small and new operator, has struggled to make a lasting impression, despite doing a good job with its POS materials and local marketing campaigns.

UGO ad in Hull Daily Mail, October 2011

Price, ultimately, seems to have been one of the major factors behind the chain’s struggle to maintain sales: adopting a Netto-style hard-discounter model was always an ambitious idea, yet UGO’s supply arrangements – with 85% of stock sourced from Nisa – just didn’t give it the room it needed to be highly competitive on everyday pricing.

Harris – who will play no future part in the UGO business – believes that the overall economy has also been a factor, however. Speaking to me today, he said:

“I believe there is very strong evidence to show that the sector has worsened dramatically since we embarked on the UGO journey a year or so ago. It was always going to be a challenge but one I feel we would have achieved in normal trading conditions.

“I wish everyone who was part of UGO and gave everything to achieve that challenge all the very best for the future and thank them again for their huge commitment.”

Former Woolworths (now Farmfoods), Hawick (29 May 2011)

With a visit to Edinburgh imminent – which will no doubt involve at least one or two Woolies-spotting detours – I figured it was time to do something with some previous Scottish photographs that I’ve had lurking in my archive.

The focus, then, of this post is the Scottish Borders – an area more than twice the size of County Durham, but one that offers fairly slim pickings as far as former Woolworths sites are concerned.

As far as I’m aware, only the county’s two largest towns ever had a Woolies store. Hawick (store #413), opened at 46 High Street in about 1930, followed by Galashiels (store #486) on 22 October 1932; both lasted until the chain’s eventual collapse in 2008. In contrast, settlements such as Selkirk, Kelso and Peebles seem to have missed out, even though Woolworths did, at various times, have stores in similar-sized small towns elsewhere (such as Launceston and Barnard Castle).

As you might expect, given its age, the Hawick store’s appearance is typical of the purpose-built 1930s small-town Woolworths, with all the usual features – symmetrical frontage, five bays, central pediment – present and correct. Indeed, as you can see from comparing the two shots below, the frontage is almost identical in scale and style to that of the contemporaneous Penrith store (#416).

Former Woolworths (now Farmfoods), Hawick (29 May 2011)

Former Woolworths (now B&M Bargains), Penrith (19 Jun 2010)

As is normally the case, however, the Hawick store’s elegant original shopfront – shown in the 1931 photograph, below – was replaced with the latterday Woolies one in the 1960s, recognisable across the country by its black granite stall riser and metal-framed doors and glazing. At some point, the original brick and stonework was also covered with a not especially appealing coat of cream-coloured paint.

Woolworths, Hawick, in 1931. Photograph courtesy of Ettrick Graphics

Like many of the value retailers that have taken over former Woolworths locations, the new occupant, Farmfoods, has chosen to keep the existing shopfront as it is, ensuring that it will still look like an old Woolies for some time to come!

Former Woolworths (now Farmfoods), Hawick (29 May 2011)

Galashiels’ store at 25 Channel Street, from a couple of years later, is similarly typical of the ‘stretched’ frontage that was used for larger stores in the 1930s.

Former Woolworths (now Home Bargains), Galashiels (27 Dec 2011)

Here, however, the incoming tenant – value retailer Home Bargains – has adopted its usual approach of installing a brand-new dark-grey shopfront, echoing the investment that it’s made in other former Woolies sites such as Tamworth, Berwick-upon-Tweed (below) and Prestatyn.

Former Woolworths (now Home Bargains), Berwick-upon-Tweed (24 Aug 2010)

However, whereas those stores all feature Home Bargains’ toned-down ‘heritage’ signage in burgundy and grey, Galashiels gets the standard red and pale blue version – and the fascia lights up, too. A contact at Home Bargains once told me that the more discreet signage is used when local planners are unhappy with the more garish alternative; one can only imagine that the planners in Galashiels didn’t make as much fuss as the others, as Channel Street certainly has as much historic character – and probably more – than Tamworth’s George Street.

Channel Street, Galashiels (27 Dec 2011)

The fading light when I visited last month meant that I only spent a short time in Galashiels, but my impression of Channel Street was of quite a handsome thoroughfare. It was only let down, I felt, by the steady stream of buses (a slightly curious experience, given that the road surface was more akin to that of a pedestrianised street), and by the proliferation of rather second-rate retail names.

Galashiels does have some big-name stores – among them Next, M&S Simply Food, Boots and New Look – but these are located slightly away from the centre at the fairly new Gala Water Retail Park. There’s also a large Asda behind the retail park, opened at the same time, and a longer-established Tesco that includes a pedestrian link between the new developments and the original town centre.

Taken together, there’s no doubt that Galashiels has a reasonably strong retail offer for a town of its size, but I couldn’t help thinking that Channel Street felt like a hotchpotch of shops that were left over – a high street without an anchor, and that no longer felt like an obvious destination.

When even Boots has left Channel Street to move over to the retail park, there’s clearly a job to do in reassessing and reinventing what Galashiels’ traditional town centre is for. Perhaps the reopening of the Waverley Line as the new Borders Railway – scheduled for December 2014 – will, as Transport Scotland hopes, “inject a new lease of life into an area that has not been served by a mainline railway for over 40 years”.

High Street and Town Hall, Hawick (29 May 2011)

Hawick, in contrast, will only get its train service back if the reopened Borders Railway is ever extended beyond the present intended terminus at Tweedbank. Compared to Galashiels, however, it has less of an issue with out-of-town retail, and a high street that is packed with character and lovely buildings – most notably the fabulous Town Hall in the Scots baronial style.

Former Almstrongs department store, Hawick (29 May 2011)

Visiting last May, however, I was struck by the number of empty shops – including Almstrongs, a closed-down independent department store – and by the high street’s overall quietness on a Bank Holiday Sunday. Even finding a place to eat was quite a challenge, with the local cafés (not open on Sunday) losing out on our cash to the ubiquitous Wetherspoon’s.

High Street, Hawick (29 May 2011)

Yet, of all the country’s high streets, Hawick is fortunate in having a fantastic sense of place, with fine buildings, a rich history, and a great heritage (continuing today) as a centre for knitwear production. Overall, it felt like a town that could be doing a lot more, Hexham-or Barnard-Castle-style, to capitalise on its assets: promoting independent retailers, and developing and marketing itself to both locals and potential tourists as an attractive destination to shop, eat and linger.

On my retail-related travels over the last three years, I’ve visited more than 150 town centres across the country – and some of those start from a position of having few historic assets, or are saddled with a dreary and soulless 1960s shopping precinct that only demolition will remedy.

It’s time that the powers-that-be in our more characterful centres – like Galashiels and Hawick – realised what fantastic potential those places have, and showed creativity, innovation and foresight in creating a modern and distinctive high street that can still thrive in an age of online and Internet retailing.

Many thanks to Ettrick Graphics for giving me permission to reproduce the 1931 photograph of Hawick Woolworths.

91-93 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough (4 May 2011)

After making my first visit to Middlesbrough’s most recent former Woolworths – the site of today’s Discount UK – back in September 2009, Soult’s Retail View readers Ali Brown and Gareth Hill helped to reveal that the town had, in fact, hosted four previous Woolies stores at different times.

Having managed to locate and photograph the last of those just last week, now seems like an opportune time to piece all the fragments together, and to finally tell the story of Middlesbrough’s Woolworths – starting more than a century ago – in chronological order.

1) Store #8 – 91-93 Linthorpe Road

91-93 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough (4 May 2011)

If they were asked to name the location of the first ever Woolworths in the North East, many people would assume that it was in Newcastle.

In fact, Newcastle had to wait until 1913 to gain its first Woolworths (store #27, on the site of today’s Peacocks in Northumberland Street) – two years after the region’s first Woolies (store #8) had already set up shop at 91-93 Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough, on 10 June 1911.

Back then, it must have been quite some accolade for Middlesbrough to secure only the eighth Woolworths store in the country, following on from those that had already opened in Liverpool (two stores), Preston, Manchester, Leeds, Hull and Brixton.

Interestingly, the fact that Woolworths ever had a store at nos. 91-93 is in danger of being forgotten, with more than one source wrongly stating that the store was always along the street at nos. 51-67: the site of Middlesbrough’s largest and most-remembered Woolworths store, but not the original location. 100thBirthday.co.uk makes that mistake, while even Woolies’ own staff magazine, The New Bond, erroneously refers in its December 1958 edition to the site of the “original store” being “rebuilt and enlarged”.

1913 postcard showing Middlesbrough's Woolworths at 91-93 Linthorpe Road on the left. Image courtesy of Ali Brown

A similar view of Linthorpe Road today (5 Jan 2012)

Happily, evidence for the original location exists in both photographic and written form. Ali Brown alerted me to a 1913 postcard that she’d acquired (above), in which the Woolworths fascia is clearly visible on the far left, within the handsome property that is still today nos. 91-93. The comparable present-day shot shows just how much of the surrounding streetscape has changed.

Referring to the store as a “fancy bazaar”, the 1913 Kelly’s Directory of North and East Ridings of Yorkshire (below) also confirms Woolworths’ address as 91-93 Linthorpe Road, and correctly places it – together with the landmark (but now-demolished) Wright’s Tower House – between the still-extant Davison Street and Grange Road West.

Extract from 1913 Kelly's Directory for the North Riding (p.216)

One thing I haven’t quite pinned down yet is when exactly Woolworths vacated nos. 91-93 in order to move into the bigger premises at 51-67.

The 1913 Kelly’s Directory lists the Central Buildings block between Newport Crescent and Gilkes Street – what would later become the new Woolworths – as still housing the Middlesbrough Co-operative Society Limited, Huggins Bros’ warehouse, Francis Wilson (bootmaker) and Miss Annie Holt (milliner). However, 100thBirthday.co.uk shows what it claims is a 1920s view of Woolworths already moved into this new location, while the image on the Valentine’s postcard below – in which Woolworths is clearly visible in its new premises on the left - must date, according to the publisher’s own numbering system, from the 1940s.

1940s Valentine postcard of Woolworths at 51-67 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough

Whenever exactly Woolworths left, 91-93 Linthorpe Road is most well known these days as the former home of BBC Radio Teesside – renamed BBC Radio Cleveland in 1974, and known today as BBC Tees – between 1970 and 1984. Today, however, both the ground and upper floors remain empty as a succession of temporary occupants have been and gone, most recently the outlet clothing store Alias.

Hopefully, before long, a new and permanent occupant will be found that befits this striking and historically interesting building.

Coming in part 2: Store #8 – 51-67 Linthorpe Road

House of Fraser (Binns), Darlington (1 Mar 2011)

It’s not one of my most well-read posts, but some of you may remember my blog from last March about the disappointing state of the toilet facilities in Darlington’s landmark House of Fraser (Binns) store.

While at first glance it might seem a slightly frivolous topic, the post was making a serious point about the importance of retailers’ attention to detail, and ensuring that all aspects of the store experience – especially in a premium department store – meet customer expectations and convey an appropriately upmarket image for the brand. While the Middlesbrough store’s attractive facilities do just that, I couldn’t help feeling that Darlington’s were rather letting the side down.

Happily, I’m pleased to report that action has been taken – Revisiting the store yesterday, I noticed that the old grimy floor covering has been replaced - a quick fix, for sure, but one that makes a big and positive difference until a more comprehensive refurbishment can be carried out.

...how it looked before (1 Mar 2011)

...and the improved version (5 Jan 2012)

Of course, whether the improvement is due to my inf-loo-ence is impossible to say, but either way it’s very welcome.

I don’t propose Soult’s Retail Loo to become a regular feature, but if you do wish to flag the frightful or salute the shining, you may feel free, as always, to add your comment below.

La Senza closing down in Newcastle (2 Jan 2012)

Since this is my first post of 2012, I must begin by wishing all Soult’s Retail View readers a very Happy New Year! Thank you to everyone who has commented, emailed, tweeted or visited during 2011, and I hope you will find many more posts to spark your interest during 2012.

As we enter 2012, the retail picture for the centre of Newcastle looks like repeating the trends of the last couple of years: various high-profile casualties amid one of the most challenging economic environments modern retailers have seen, countered by some exciting new arrivals and major retail schemes.

So, in the year ahead, what are some of the most significant things to look out for in Newcastle’s prime shopping locations?

Northumberland Street

Northumberland Street, Newcastle, with new BHS on the left (1 Jan 2012)

As I reported last week, the opening of the new BHS store in Newcastle’s premier retail location of Northumberland Street, expected sometime in the spring, will be one of the city’s major retail events of 2012. Local shoppers who are yet to experience one of the chain’s new-concept stores – such as the shop in Swindon that I visited in September – will be in for a pleasant surprise when the new four-storey store opens its doors in the old Next premises.

Beneath the scaffolding and wrap – which, as I noted previously, is due to come down in March – it’s just possible to see how the old façade has now been completely removed (below), ahead of the new BHS glass frontage being inserted.

BHS site, Northumberland Street (1 Jan 2012)

Next door, work to enable Primark’s expansion into the former BHS unit is also well underway, and, together with the new BHS, seems to be keeping local scaffolding companies busy (below). I understand, however, that we will have to wait until the end of the year for those works – which include another revamped frontage – to be completed.

Site of Primark extension, Newcastle (1 Jan 2012)

Elsewhere in Northumberland Street, the absence of any currently empty units means that new happenings in 2012 are likely to be the result of rebrands, relocations or closures.

In my previous post, I highlighted one major Northumberland Street retailer that’s looking to exit its existing store, ahead of a relocation to smaller premises elsewhere in the city centre. Its situation – being tied into expensive space that is now regarded as significantly overrented – is far from unique; however, with the St Andrew’s Way extension to Eldon Square (and the subsequent shuffling of other retailers, such as Next, BHS and Primark) having mopped up much of the demand for MSUs (major space units) in the city, I understand that finding a replacement occupier is proving a challenge.

As far as rebrands are concerned, Northumberland Street’s Northern Rock branch will no doubt be rebranded as Virgin Money during 2012; though banks tend to fall outside my blogging remit, it’s interesting that Virgin Money is referring to the locations it has acquired as ‘stores’ rather than ‘branches’, seemingly drawing inspiration from the best of retail as it seeks to create a “bright, relaxed, comfortable environment to come and sort out money matters, quickly and easily”.

Locations information on the Virgin Money website (4 Jan 2012)

To complement its ’stores’, there are also set to be Virgin Money Lounges in five cities – Edinburgh, Newcastle, Norwich, Manchester and London – providing a “place where our customers and their guests can relax”; it’s not clear, however, whether Newcastle’s promised Virgin Money Lounge will occupy one of the city’s two existing branch sites or new premises elsewhere. In Manchester, I’m told that the soon-to-open Virgin Money Lounge has taken over entirely new landmark premises, in addition to the established Northern Rock branch nearby, so it will be interesting to see whether the same approach is taken in Newcastle.

La Senza closing down in Newcastle (2 Jan 2012)

On the closure front, La Senza looks set to be Northumberland Street’s first retail casualty of 2012, following the lingerie chain’s announcement that it intends to enter administration. While the firm has blamed “trading conditions in La Senza’s high street locations and the overall macro environment which are having an adverse effect on the company”, such a statement fails to explain why La Senza has failed when many other retailers are successfully weathering the storm.

One suggestion, based on what my female friends have told me, is that La Senza may have fallen into the same trap as the collapsed young fashion chain Jane Norman by undermining its reputation for quality and, by extension, customers’ overall value perception of its products.

Of the retailer’s 146 UK stores, Newcastle is one of 81 locations that have launched ‘closing down’ sales, though there’s always a chance that any potential rescuer might decide to keep the store open after all. However, given its prominent location at the main entrance to Eldon Square, it’s unlikely that the unit would remain empty for long even if La Senza departed.

Blacks, Newcastle (8 Aug 2011)

Elsewhere in the city centre, the fate of several familar stores rests on whether their owners can turn around a sustained period of poor trading. The future of the outdoor retailer Blacks – which has a recently-opened store in Market Street – remains up in the air, while HMV has an uphill struggle to define its place in a changing entertainment market.

HMV’s Newcastle store, for example, is a curious mix of technology products, cold drinks and NUFC merchandise alongside the traditional CDs, DVDs and games; the overall impression is of a store that is cluttered, lacking in personality, and confused about what it’s trying to be.

HMV’s future – if it is to have one – must surely be in showcasing its credentials as a chain that lives, breathes, and is an authority on entertainment, as a way of differentiating itself from its online and supermarket competitors. However, the current presentation of piles of DVDs in a sub-supermarket-quality environment merely demonstrates the scale of the challenge ahead, rather than any sense of passion for the product.

HMV Newcastle (1 Jan 2012)

Time will tell whether my shot of a shuttered HMV on New Year’s Day, above – one of the few days of the year when most shops still close – becomes a more poignant image in the coming months.

Monument Mall

Wallis closing down, Newcastle (1 Jan 2012)

Further down, on the corner of Northumberland Street and Blackett Street, the closure of the Wallis and Evans store in Monument Mall this coming Saturday (7 January) is, hopefully, the harbinger of more positive developments ahead.

Evans closing down, Newcastle (1 Jan 2011)

Hammerson – who bought the shopping centre last April – had its ambitious plans to redevelop Monument Mall approved in November, and the Arcadia brands’ departure is a necessary step in enabling the scheme to proceed. Some high-profile departures under the previous ownership left Monument Mall’s generally small-sized units bereft of occupants, and Hammerson’s plans turn the centre inside out by filling in the mall’s circulation spaces and creating full-depth, street-facing shop and restaurant units.

Monument Mall, Newcastle (26 Oct 2011)

While Arcadia’s decision not to open new Evans and Wallis stores in Newcastle is a little disappointing, the move is in line with Sir Philip Green’s strategy of consolidating his space as leases expire. As the store-closure posters note, Wallis already has concessions in Newcastle’s Fenwick and Debenhams stores, while Evans is represented at both Metrocentre and Team Valley in Gateshead, but not elsewhere in Newcastle. Of the two, I’d therefore wager that Evans is more likely to make a reappearance in Newcastle city centre in due course – perhaps even as part of the aforementioned new BHS store – given its distinctive plus-size positioning and lack of Newcastle presence once the current store closes.

Peacocks, Northumberland Street (25 Jun 2010)

Incidentally, the only impact of the plans on the Peacocks store – which opened in the former Zavvi unit in 2010 – will be to block up its current mall entrances, leaving the main Northumberland Street frontage as the only access. The store will therefore revert to being the self-contained premises that it used to be as Woolworths and Next, in the years before Monument Mall opened in 1990.

So, what of the Monument Mall development itself? My understanding is that the new units are likely to be trading in time for Christmas 2013, and that Hammerson’s focus is on attracting niche retailers that will complement and reinforce the emerging Urban Outfitters-anchored high-end cluster around Grey’s Monument.

With strong demand for the medium-sized units in the new scheme, I understand that the development is expected to be fully let by spring this year. While no names have emerged, Hugo Boss – recently beaten by The North Face to the former Schuh unit opposite – must be a prime candidate, while there are plenty of expanding high-end fashion brands, such as White Stuff and Jack Wills, that are yet to establish a Newcastle presence.

Eldon Square

Northumberland Street entrance to Eldon Square (17 Jun 2010)

The dominance of Eldon Square within Newcastle is, arguably, one of the reasons why the city centre’s smaller shopping malls – whether Monument Mall, Eldon Garden or the earmarked-for-demolition Newgate Shopping Centre – have consistently failed to fly.

With 150 stores, Eldon Square’s vast size leaves it vulnerable to retail collapses, with the existing Barratts, Priceless and Past Times stores all at risk from those chains’ current difficulties. On the other hand, the shopping centre still has an impressive occupancy rate and a successful record of refilling those units that have recently become free.

New Next, Newcastle (10 May 2011)

While I understand that one retailer is mulling an exit, the new Debenhams-anchored St Andrew’s Way remains fully let to date, and almost all the space freed up by relocations to the new mall has been reoccupied by other tenants. Most notably, of course, Next opened a new flagship store in the former Arcadia space in May last year, which I’m told is trading very well.

The major problem area of Eldon Square is the Sidgate and High Friars stretch, running between the new Next and the mall entrance next to Grey’s Monument. Traditionally more value-focused than the rest of Eldon Square, this part of the shopping centre has suffered from its odd configuration and small-sized units, and currently has a relatively high number of voids, including the large two-storey store that New Look vacated when it moved to St Andrew’s Way two years ago.

However, my understanding is that the key former New Look unit will soon be reoccupied by a big-name retailer moving from elsewhere in the centre, whose space, in turn, is set to be occupied by a fashion chain not currently represented in Eldon Square. Ahead of any more radical reconfiguration of Sidgate and High Friars (which is surely likely to be required at some point in the future), the reoccupation of the former New Look site will at least restore some of the footfall that has been lost in the last couple of years.

Summary

So, for all that the media likes to portray 2012 as the year of a “high street bloodbath”, the reality in Newcastle city centre is more complex – and more positive – than the garish headlines suggest.

With both new and existing retailers still making significant commitments to the city centre – and, on the whole, decent demand for any space that becomes free – Newcastle seems well placed to see through the downturn and emerge in good condition on the other side.

New BHS Newcastle site (28 Dec 2011)

Work on the new BHS store in Newcastle has been underway for more than six months, though the lack of any mention of BHS on site meant that anyone passing by would have been none the wiser about what exactly was happening. This always seemed to me like a wasted opportunity given the evident interest among local shoppers – after all, for the best part of a year, searches relating to Newcastle’s new BHS have been one of the biggest drivers of traffic to Soult’s Retail View.

Now, however, signage announcing BHS’s forthcoming arrival in Northumberland Street has finally appeared, though the ‘opens 2012′ message leaves the exact timing rather vague. The banner is also looking rather worse for wear, given that it can only have been in place for a couple of weeks at most.

Site of new Newcastle BHS (29 Nov 2011)

Though the building’s frontage was fully wrapped up when I went past today, the shot above – from a month ago – shows the windows of the ex-Next store already removed ahead of the property’s radical refronting. I’m told that the scaffolding is due to come down in March, which would suggest a store opening sometime in the spring.

Newcastle's Primark extension underway (29 Nov 2011)

With work also progressing well on Primark’s nearby extension into the old BHS – and, I understand, at least one other major Northumberland Street unit being quietly marketed, pending relocation elsewhere in the city centre – 2012 already promises plenty of interest for Newcastle’s retail watchers.

Trinity Square, Gateshead (18 Dec 2011)

It may have taken over a year to get started following the Get Carter car park’s demolition, but building work at Gateshead’s Trinity Square is now proceeding apace.

Construction of the £150m development only began at the start of November, but the speed of progress has been impressive since I photographed the first section of steel frame less than two months ago (below), close to where the car park entrance ramp used to be.

Start of construction at Trinity Square, Gateshead (4 Nov 2011)

That part of the scheme now towers over the adjacent three-storey New Century House (formerly the Co-op department store; now Argos and other shops), giving a first sense of the development’s scale along West Street – what is currently, to all intents and purposes, Gateshead’s main shopping thoroughfare. As well as the steel frame, concrete floors and staircases are also starting to go in.

Trinity Square from West Street, Gateshead (18 Dec 2011)

Further down West Street, another section of Trinity Square is taking shape opposite the existing Iceland and Heron Foods stores.

Trinity Square from West Street, Gateshead (18 Dec 2011)

Overall, it’s possible to start making out the shape of the scheme on the ground in relation to the numerous artists’ impressions that the developer, Spenhill (a subsidiary of Tesco), has made available, even if the images do make West Street look unfeasibly wide. When complete, the development will include a 175,000 sq ft Tesco Extra store, an additional 170,000 sq ft of new retail and leisure space (comprising up to 42 shop units and kiosks), over 750 parking spaces, and a 993-room student village. I understand that several well-known retail names are already lined up for the scheme, though one or two are likely to be relocations from older or overrented space elsewhere in the town centre.

Artist's impression of Trinity Square from West Street. Image courtesy of Spenhill

Unsurprisingly, the Trinity Square development has both its fans and its detractors. When I blogged about the scheme back in July last year, one reader, Seamaster, lamented the demolition of Owen Luder’s iconic car park, while James lambasted my assessment that “the Tesco store is properly integrated, visually and physically, into a wider scheme that is bold and modern.”

Anyone who follows my blogs or tweets will know that I’m not always an enthusiast of Tesco. However, from the perspective of both a retail commentator and a Gateshead resident, I stand by my positive view of the development. For me, the scheme’s unashamedly modern design and scale is much more successful, for example, than the strange modern-classical hybrid adopted by Newcastle’s recent Eldon Square extension (below).

Clayton Street frontage, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010)

The potential of a monolithic Tesco development also seems to have been avoided, both in terms of physical connectivity and the mix of uses.

Jackson Street, Gateshead (18 Dec 2011)

With regard to the former, the plan and images show additional shops lining West Street and High Street, as well as a new store-lined street that will connect West Street to High Street via the new town square. Together with a further pedestrian link, to Jackson Street (emerging beyond Hutchinsons in the photograph above), these connections should ensure that Gateshead town centre’s existing businesses – including recent arrivals such as Poundland (in the former Woolworths) and Wetherspoon’s – benefit from the extra footfall that the development is bound to generate.

Overall, Spenhill predicts that the scheme will result in an increase in the town centre’s retail turnover potential from £74m to £160m, and that Gateshead’s RetailVision CentreRanking will “improve by over 500 places”.

New Poundland store, Gateshead (21 Sep 2010)

In terms of the mix of uses, the development also seems to get things right. In addition to the retail space, the introduction of leisure uses and a sizable student housing component should help to address two of Gateshead town centre’s other flaws – a very limited bar and restaurant offer, and next to nothing in the way of town centre housing, both of which currently create an eeriness and lack of activity at night.

Poster at Trinity Square, Gateshead (18 Dec 2011)

For now, however, Gateshead shoppers still have to wait a few years longer before the development is complete. The latest issue of Gateshead Council News reports that the current Tesco store will close in mid-2012, with the new store (on much of the same site) opening in spring 2013, and the student housing being completed in summer 2014. A temporary Tesco (probably in the Metro format, given the unit’s size) is expected to operate from the old Kwik Save site in the High Street in the interim.

Former Kwik Save, Gateshead (18 Dec 2011)

Apart from the buzz that the students on site will bring to the scheme, Trinity Square will mean that Gateshead’s other residents also finally have a town centre that is a viable place to shop and go out in, rather than always having to head to Newcastle or Metrocentre.

At a time when Mary Portas and others are encouraging us to support and regenerate our local high streets, bringing Gateshead town centre back to life – through a bold mix of retail, leisure and housing – must surely be a good thing.

Notice by travelator, former Big W, Loughborough (15 Dec 2011). Photograph by Steve Hack

Loughborough’s former Big W at The Rushes Shopping Centre may have reopened as a Tesco in February last year, but Soult’s Retail View reader Steve Hack recently spotted a fragment of the building’s Woolies past that lives on.

In the car park, a notice by the travelator still informs shoppers that payment can be made at the Pay Station located on the “Upper Level in front of Big W”. The sign conjures up a vaguely amusing image of customers wandering around in vain looking for the aforementioned Big W – after all, even before Woolies went bust in 2008, the Loughborough store (#1254), just like Stockton and others, had long since been rebranded as a plain ‘Woolworths’.

As in other locations, such as Newark, the opening of Loughborough’s edge-of-town Big W in 2002 prompted the closure of the town’s established Woolworths store (#226) at 39-40 Market Place, in premises now occupied by Primark.

While a dwindling number of stores left vacant by the chain’s collapse retain their Woolworths signage, it’s surprising quite how many other – and less obvious - Woolies clues survive, even when the stores have been taken over by other retailers. Needless to say, if you spot any similarly interesting bits of Woolworths history feel free to post a comment below, drop me an email, or send me a tweet!

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Newcastle’s long-awaited Urban Outfitters store opens its doors tomorrow (Friday 9 December), but I was lucky enough to be given a preview tour yesterday. Believe me, it’s worth the wait – Urban Outfitters is surely Newcastle’s most exciting and creative retail interior.

Scroll through the images to get a flavour of the journey through the store, as you enter from the street and work your way through to the second floor fitting rooms via two grand staircases. All the photographs that I took yesterday (7 December) are featured here.

An accompanying blog – describing the stunning store interior in detail – is in preparation, and will appear in the next few days.

Former Woolworths, North Shields (15 Nov 2011)

Frank’s the Flooring Store has confirmed to Soult’s Retail View that it is in possession of North Shields’ former Woolworths site, and expects to open there in mid-January.

One of this blog’s readers had tipped me off about the news last month, but this is the first time that Frank’s has verified the story. It will be the carpet and flooring chain’s 34th store – all but one of which are in the North East – and comes at a time when the retailer is expanding rapidly, reportedly buoyed by rising sales as householders invest in improving their homes rather than moving house. Significantly, many of the new stores – such as last year’s opening in Consett, below – are in high-street rather than out-of-town locations.

Frank's Flooring Store, Consett (2 Dec 2011)

Known in the past as Frank’s Factory Flooring, the business is famous for its memorable – some would say annoying – local radio ads featuring the slogan “I love carpets, me!” However, its product range has grown beyond carpets over the years, to encompass vinyl flooring, wooden floors and rugs. Frank’s also sells beds in a selected number of stores, echoing rival flooring retailer Carpetright’s recent move into that category.

Frank’s arrival in North Shields ensures that the town’s former Woolworths building – most recently occupied by the MIS Wallcoverings & Textiles Superstore – will not remain unoccupied for long. Back in August, when MIS was still trading from the site, I reported that the property was ‘for sale or to let with vacant possession’; returning three weeks ago, I noted that MIS had moved out and the unit was empty.

Former Woolworths, Newton Aycliffe (1 Mar 2011)

With Wallsend also crossed off the list in recent weeks, North Shields’ ex-Woolies being filled means that 32 of the 33 North East Woolworths that closed three years ago will have secured new tenants. Only the Newton Aycliffe ex-Woolies remains to be filled, though current development works nearby – including the upcoming arrival of a new Aldi store – are likely to boost the potential for new lettings elsewhere in the town centre.

In the meantime, having all but one of the region’s ex-Woolies reoccupied isn’t a bad hit rate at all given that the high street is supposed to be ‘dying’. Instead of constantly predicting doom, we should be celebrating those successful, expanding retailers – like Frank’s – who are investing in our high streets and bringing empty properties back into use.

Closing-down poster at Newgate Street Co-op, Newcastle (2 Dec 2011)

Newcastle city centre’s Co-op supermarket is to close down this month, bringing to an end nearly a century-and-a-half of Co-operative presence in Newgate Street. Posters in the windows and instore – which I spotted while passing by yesterday – reveal that the store will ‘cease trading as a Co-operative’ at 6pm on New Year’s Eve (31 December).

Former Co-op department store, Newgate Street (16 Feb 2010)

The food hall is the last remaining part of the former Co-op department store, which closed in 2007, and there has been speculation about its long-term future ever since – both in terms of its competitive position and the expected redevelopment of the building in which it sits.

For many years, the Co-op was one of a handful of supermarkets in Newcastle city centre – alongside Marks & Spencer’s food hall and the now-demolished Safeway (previously Presto) in Clayton Street – and had the advantage of the biggest range and longest opening hours of the lot.

Sainsbury's Local, Gallowgate, Newcastle (10 May 2011)

More recently, however, competition has intensified, with Waitrose opening in nearby Eldon Square and Tesco Metro taking a unit roughly where Safeway used to be in the redeveloped Eldon Square South. Reflecting the national trend of big grocers moving into convenience, the city has also seen a proliferation of smaller supermarkets, including two Sainsbury’s Locals (in nearby Gallowgate and at Central Station) and a Tesco Express (Eldon Garden), as well as a recently opened Londis Metro in Grainger Street.

While the environment around it has shifted, the Newgate Street Co-op has failed to keep up. Even two years ago, I described the rump supermarket as feeling “unloved and behind the times”, noting the “bored-looking staff, long queues (as usual), and numerous broken light fittings that create an overall feeling of gloom.”

Old 'Food Hall' signage, Co-op, Newgate St, Newcastle (9 Nov 2009)

Despite the apparent lack of investment or attention to detail inside the store, last year’s replacement of the old ‘Food Hall’ signs with ones bearing the new ‘Co-operative Food’ identity suggested that the Co-op might, in fact, be planning on staying around for a while. Indeed, even when long-awaited plans for the building’s re-use for retail, hotel and leisure were approved earlier this month, it was stated that the Co-op’s food store would be retained as part of the scheme, despite plans for a new (but much smaller) Co-operative Food store, in the old Envy unit in Market Street, having come to light a week earlier.

New Co-operative Food signage (20 May 2010)

Nevertheless, the Co-op food hall’s surprise closure in Newgate Street is likely to facilitate the Redbox-designed plans to revamp the iconic building that it occupies. The shop’s strange position within the property – largely the result of having to screen it off from the abandoned department store and stair towers – would always have necessitated some reconfiguration and resulting disruption to business.

So, what of the redevelopment itself? First of all, it’s important to appreciate the extent and interest of the existing property. While the Grade II-Listed Art Deco section facing Newgate Street – built from 1931-32 to replace the original 1870s premises, and extended by three bays in 1959 – is the most familiar part of the old Co-op department store, there are also some noteworthy Grade II-Listed buildings around the corner in St Andrew’s Street.

St Andrew's Street buildings, former Co-op, Newcastle (9 Nov 2009)

As David Lovie notes in his useful (but now quite old) ‘The Buildings of Grainger Town’ book, these were built in 1902 as an extension to the original 1870s Co-op store, so are the oldest surviving part of the property. Happily, these will be given a new purpose as the entrance to the 231-bedroom Travelodge that is set to occupy the upper-floor space within the 150,000 sq ft scheme.

St Andrew's Street buildings, former Co-op, Newcastle (9 Nov 2009)

According to the useful project update on the architects’ website, a gym is expected to occupy the basement, while the ground floor will house six retail or restaurant units. Interestingly, the piece – which also assumed, at the time, that the Co-op supermarket would remain in place – states that “all tenants but one have already committed to the scheme”, which will no doubt prompt all sorts of speculation about who might occupy the space.

The property’s location next to The Gate leisure complex means that restaurants or bars are an obvious choice, but its position in relation to recently opened big-name stores - opposite Debenhams and New Look, and close to Next – makes fashion retail a possibility.

All in all, then, it’s difficult not to be positive about the plans for the property. A historic building is going to be brought back into use after five years of near-vacancy, while the promised ground-floor uses should help generate street-level activity and footfall in Newgate Street. Meanwhile, any loyal Co-op shoppers look set to be catered for by a small store elsewhere in the city centre.

For all that the present Co-op supermarket is unlikely to be widely missed, I hope that the rather clinical head-office posters announcing the store’s closure will be replaced in due course by something more bespoke. After all, when a business has traded from the same site since the 1870s – supported by generations of Newcastle families – shoppers surely deserve a warmer expression of gratitude than a passing ’Thank you for your custom’.

Upcoming Urban Outfitters, Newcastle (29 Nov 2011)

Newcastle’s upcoming Urban Outfitters store has been tantalisingly hidden behind orange boards for over a month – including when I passed by last week – but the shop’s frontage has now been unwrapped ahead of its opening a week on Friday (9 December).

While we’ve known the opening date for a while, this is the first chance we’ve had to see what the front of the Grainger Street store looks like. So, following Dave Robson’s tip-off on the Skyscrapercity Forums last night, I went along with my camera this morning to take a look.

...and hidden away before (26 Oct 2011)

Given the building’s Listed status, and the need to work around the strange metal flashing that stretches across the frontage of that and the neighbouring stores, the shop has a relatively understated shopfront and fascia compared to UO stores elsewhere.

Upcoming Urban Outfitters, Newcastle (29 Nov 2011)

Both the shopfront and fascia are in a deep shade of red powder-coated aluminium, with fret-cut letters spelling out the name of the store. Interestingly, the letters are much smaller than Urban Outfitters’ original planning application had proposed – that would have seen them be about twice the current height, and the full width of the frontage. Seemingly, however, something a little more discreet – and, dare I say it, less bold and interesting – was needed in order to get through the planning process.

Given the resulting low-key signage, one assumes that the large shopwindow will do much of the talking once the store opens; for now, however, it’s greeting passers by with a ’HELLUO NEWCASTLE!’ message, in a cheeky play on its name.

Upcoming Urban Outfitters, Newcastle (29 Nov 2011)

The watchful presence of several contractors made it difficult to lurk for long or get much of a view inside, though the fact that building work is still underway obviously means that there are no fixtures or stock in place yet. However, the store’s imminent opening – in just ten days’ time – must suggest that we’ll see some activity on the merchandising front later this week.

Grainger Street, with Urban Outfitters on the left (29 Nov 2011)

As I explained in my first blog about this development, back in January last year, the shop’s ground floor – which was formerly Jigsaw’s unit – will represent a relatively small part of the three-storey unit. Much of the retail floorspace is on the first and second floors – spanning the adjacent Calvin Klein Underwear, Fat Face, Phones 4u and Vodafone stores – in the area that used to be occupied by the Green Market at High Friars and, before that, the MVC record shop.

As I noted back then, however, the property has never been under the same ownership as the Eldon Square shopping centre, despite the ex-MVC unit being accessed from the mall and, to all intents and purposes, being perceived as part of it. Realignment of the floor levels to their historic positions means that Urban Outfitters will be accessed only from the street, with the old Eldon Square entrance – currently hidden behind boards – blocked up.

Such is the complexity of this building, shoppers who go into Urban Outfitters on 9 December can surely be forgiven if their first reaction is “where did all this upstairs space come from?”

New Look and Next (formerly Woolworths), Perth (24 Nov 2011). Photograph by Steve Hack

The fashion retailers Next and New Look opened the doors to their new stores in Perth yesterday (24 November), on the site of the town’s former Woolworths store (#197). My friend Steve Hack was there, and took these photographs for Soult’s Retail View an hour or two before the stores’ official openings.

I understand that both Next and New Look have relocated from existing premises in Perth, with the new stores providing a significant increase in space and range. While neither Next nor New Look have been significant takers of ex-Woolies sites across the country, both have used the opportunity to improve their offer in selected locations – previously, for example, I wrote about Next’s move into the former Woolworths in Darlington, replacing two older, smaller stores.

Next (formerly Woolworths), Perth (24 Nov 2011). Photograph by Steve Hack

Though Scotland only makes occasional appearances in this blog – partly due to my fairly sporadic visits – Perth’s Woolworths has some significance as one of the first that I photographed, back in February 2009, just a few weeks after Woolworths’ demise.

Former Woolworths, Perth (23 Feb 2009)

When I stopped off in Perth, Soult’s Retail View was still five months off being launched, and – though it seems remarkable now – I didn’t bother to track down or photograph Aberdeen’s former Woolworths when I’d visited there earlier the same weekend. That would certainly never happen today!

Though Woolworths had occupied its spot at at 111-119 High Street since 26 September 1925, the building’s current appearance dates from its 1966 reskinning. It’s fair to say that when I visited, the building wasn’t looking its best – it had a generally careworn look, made worse by the blank frontage of the old Woolworths shop, and a strangely unsymmetrical appearance due to a Thorntons shoehorned into the side. While the 1966 image at 100thBirthday.co.uk shows that the modern-day frontage was always divided in this way (with a branch of Salisburys, the erstwhile bag retailer, in place of Thorntons), it was clear that successive shopfront and fascia interventions over time had made the join more apparent and incongruous.

It’s therefore a pleasure to see that the property’s latest revamp has markedly improved its appearance. On the ground floor, Thorntons’ move to new premises along the street has allowed the insertion of sleek, modern shopfronts across its whole width that better match the proportions of the floors above. Indeed, the appearance of the first floor has been improved too, with some of the infill panels removed and new glazing inserted.

Part of the reason for the Perth Woolworths site being empty for so long is that there were, until quite recently, plans to demolish it and create a new street that would connect the High Street with the Concert Hall.

For a building that nearly got the chop, you do have to say it’s scrubbed up pretty well.

Poundland, Hexham (19 Nov 2011)

Poundland opened the doors of its new Hexham store last Thursday (17 November) – and I understand that another Northumberland Poundland will be opening in Ashington soon.

The new Hexham store was having a ‘family fun day’ when I visited on Saturday, with the result that every child in Hexham town centre seemed to be carrying a Poundland balloon.

Looking beyond the initial razzmattazz, I suspect that the store will still do very well. It’s very visible, carries a good range in a decent-sized space, and lacks much in the way of competition. Though Hexham has a well-stocked but careworn Poundstretcher, the town is relatively unusual for the North East in having neither Wilkinson nor Home Bargains.

Poundland, Hexham (19 Nov 2011)

Meanwhile, having only had one Northumberland store (in Cramlington) prior to Hexham’s opening last week, Poundland is set to quickly add a third. I understand that the retailer has taken over the old Ethel Austin premises in Ashington, with contractors already on site and jobs being advertised. Given the quick turnaround in Hexham, we can surely expect the Ashington store to be opening well before Christmas.

Coming hot on the heels of recent new stores in Peterlee (in the former Woolworths – which I obviously need to visit!), Bishop Auckland (another ex-Ethel Austin) and Durham’s Arnison Retail Centre (previously Bensons for Beds and Ponden Home), Poundland’s expansion in the North East certainly shows no sign of letting up just yet.

With a UK store count now at more than 360 and rising, Poundland’s estate has increased by an astonishing 200 shops in the last three years. However, there must surely become a point – in just a few years’ time at the current rate of expansion – where Poundland has stores in almost all the places where it wants them.

Little wonder then that Poundland has recently launched a new fascia, Dealz, that it can potentially roll out across the eurozone, starting in Ireland. It’s a canny move that should ensure Poundland’s continued expansion, even once its domestic market is saturated.

c1920s postcard of unidentified Woolworths

[We have an answer already! See below]

Old postcards can be a great source of Woolworths images, and I’ve regularly used them to illustrate my Woolies-related blogs – such as my post last month about the former Ledbury store. More often than not, the subject of the postcard is clearly stated on either the picture or the reverse side, avoiding the need to work out where on earth the image is of.

I was therefore curious to spot the above postcard on eBay. The unposted card features a fine photograph of an original Woolworths frontage, but has nothing to identify either the store’s location or the date of the photograph.

Looking at the building and the feel of the photograph, my suspicion is that the image dates from the 1910s or 20s. The property is clearly not a purpose-built Woolworths – unlike many of the stores from the late 1920s onwards – and the fascia features the ‘Nothing over 6d’ message, which was a familiar sight on the chain’s earliest stores. However, the building isn’t one that I recognise from any of the Woolies photographs that I’ve previously seen on postcards, online, or in books.

So, can any readers out there help to identify the location of this shop? Those curved windows on the first floor are pretty distinctive, but there’s a strong chance that Woolworths would have redeveloped the property at a later date, meaning that it won’t exist today.

Whether you have a definite answer or just a hunch, do feel free to post a comment below!

Update

Well, that didn’t take long! In the space of less than two hours, S W Shopfittings (@SWSF1) on Twitter was able to identify the mysterious Woolworths as the Aberdeen store (#228), as proven by this 1970s shot at 100thBirthday.co.uk.

The store opened in July 1926 – so towards the end of the period that I suggested – and occupied its site at 111-119 Union Street until its closure on 1 June 1990. Remarkably, the building HAS survived to this day, and – if Google Streetview is to be believed – currently houses a branch of McDonalds.

Interestingly, the store wasn’t Aberdeen’s original Woolworths – that was store #79, at 48-52 St Nicholas Street, which appears to have opened on 18 October 1919 and closed sometime before the early 1980s. That address seems not to exist today, though the current Gap store in St Nicholas Street bears a remarkable resemblance (perhaps coincidentally) to the flagship Woolworths in London’s Oxford Street (#161).

Aberdeen city centre’s final Woolworths – #1159 – apparently opened on 9 June 1990, replacing the just-closed Union Street shop with a smaller store in the then-new Bon Accord shopping centre. That store lasted until Woolworths’ demise in 2008-09, and is now, I understand, occupied by Top Shop.

Tindale & Stanton logo

A family-run bakery and supermarket supplier based in County Durham has been saved from closure.

Bakery Products Limited has acquired the assets and goodwill of Hobson Foods Limited (in administration), which traded as Tindale & Stanton. The new business will continue to trade as Tindale & Stanton Limited from its existing premises in Burnopfield, near Gateshead. Bakery Products already owns the Woodhead Bakery in Scarborough, which it rescued from administration earlier this year, and has gone on to become a major supplier to the UGO supermarket chain.

Woodhead store in the bakery's native Scarborough (24 Jun 2011)

A familiar brand to many in the North East, Tindale & Stanton is a long-established, traditional baker originally founded by Bill Tindale. Serving the region for over 25 years, there are two main parts to the business: supply of a full range of bakery products to local retailers, fish and chips shops and cafés via its modern refrigerated vehicle fleet; and a wholesale division supplying a number of national supermarket chains and retailers with branded pies and baked goods.

In August this year, the company unveiled a ‘beef and broon’ pie, made with locally sourced Mordue ale and Northumbrian beef, and sold in Asda stores across the North East – part of a range that the new owners intend to retain and grow.

In recent years, however, Tindale & Stanton has also faced some challenges. After the business collapsed into administration in 2008, former managing director Peter Frankland formed Hobson Foods to rescue the business’s production facilities in Burnopfield and Gateshead, and 160 of its 300 jobs. A year ago, the smaller Gateshead bakery was closed, with its 16 staff transferred to the headquarters on Burnopfield’s Hobson Industrial Estate.

Last year, the business reported a slightly increased pre-tax profit of £122,689 on sales of £7m for the year ending May 2010. I understand, however, that recent sales have suffered as a result of lost business following Asda’s takeover of Netto. Tindale & Stanton was previously a major supplier to Netto, accounting for annual sales of £2.5m – or more than a third of its total turnover.

Netto store in Gateshead

Commenting on the acquisition, a spokesperson for Bakery Products told Soult’s Retail View:

“When Hobson Foods became available, we saw a unique opportunity to save a successful business that shares our traditional family bakery ethics.

“Tindale & Stanton will complement and enhance the current range offered by the Woodhead Bakery. The two businesses have strong synergies in that each is well known and respected in its respective geographical area with a focus on quality, range and value for money

“The acquisition also facilitates economies of scale through shared management and resources and opens up a variety of new opportunities to grow the Bakery Products business.

“It is planned that the 122 Tindale & Stanton staff in place when the acquisition was agreed will retain their positions. However, we understand that, regrettably, a small number of redundancies have taken place over the last few weeks.

“This is the start of a brand new era for the business which we firmly believe has a very bright future.”

As I reported earlier this month, Woodhead-branded bread, cakes and pies have already been selling well in UGO, with customers seemingly appreciating the freshness, value and local provenance of the products.

Woodhead bread products at UGO Boothferry (11 Oct 2011)

As well as securing a successful wholesale business, the purchase of Tindale & Stanton – whose products are already sold in UGO shops – provides further interesting vertical integration opportunities for the 20-strong UGO supermarket chain as it seeks to lessen its reliance on Nisa-sourced products.

Soon-to-be Heron Foods, Wallsend (15 Nov 2011)

After much speculation, family-owned frozen food specialist Heron Foods has revealed itself as the new occupant of Wallsend’s former Woolworths store.

Following my visit two months ago, I reported that the property at 2-4 High Street East – vacant since the shortlived Well Worth It moved out – had gained a ‘let agreed’ sign. Then, by a fortnight ago, the shutters had been painted blue and the Well Worth It signage removed, revealing traces of old Woolworths lettering underneath.

Former Woolworths, Wallsend (22 Sep 2011)

Former Woolworths, Wallsend (4 Nov 2011)

Now, following a helpful Twitter tip-off from @waiteIT, I was able to pay a return visit to see the store’s new Heron Foods signage in place. It’s just a coincidence, of course, but the building’s blue and yellow cladding is a much better match for Heron Foods’ corporate colours than it ever was for Woolworths’.

When I visited, there was no indication on site of when the store would open, and the publicity-shy retailer’s web presence – just an ‘under construction’ page – means that information on Heron Foods and its 160+ (and growing) stores can be hard to come by. However, one quick call to the head office number and I was able to find out that the Wallsend store is set to open this coming Monday, 21 November.

Heron Foods website (17 Nov 2011)

The reuse of any former Woolworths is good news, but the arrival of a new supermarket on Wallsend High Street makes the story doubly significant. As I’ve noted before, Wallsend town centre was dealt a blow when the Co-op supermarket closed in 2009, and Morrisons – who had bought the site – aborted plans to open in its place. The recent conversion of the town’s Netto to Asda has partly helped to plug the gap, but its location, in Hadrian Road, means that there are limited footfall benefits for the High Street proper.

With the planned redevelopment of the Forum shopping centre – including a new, large supermarket – not expected to complete until at least 2013, Heron Foods’ move onto Wallsend High Street is a canny one. Its value offer – increasingly featuring dry as well as frozen goods – is likely to appeal to cost-conscious local shoppers, while the decent-sized ex-Woolies store is big enough to feature a wide product range.

The retailer will surely be hoping that by the time any new competitor opens, Wallsend’s shoppers have already got themselves into the Heron habit.

Soon-to-open Superdry, Durham (16 Nov 2011)

Superdry – the SuperGroup-owned fashion chain of the moment – is gearing up to open its new store in Durham’s Silver Street at 9am this coming Friday (18 November), though the shop was still under wraps when I went past this morning.

By opening in the midst of the Durham Lumiere festival – which runs from 17-20 November, and attracts large crowds to the city – Superdry should be well placed for a successful launch.

Until recently, the unit at  30-31 Silver Street was occupied by Burton and Dorothy Perkins. However, in keeping with Sir Philip Green’s property consolidation strategy for Arcadia Group, both brand’s ranges now feature instead in the city’s nearby BHS store, the anchor tenant for the Prince Bishops shopping centre.

Soon-to-open Superdry, Durham (16 Nov 2011)

While Arcadia shrinks its estate, Superdry is rapidly expanding it – and since the first Superdry store opened in 2004, the chain’s growth has been spectacular. Durham will be the 57th standalone Superdry store in the UK – and only its third in the North East, after Newcastle and Metrocentre – alongside 21 shops under the Cult brand and more than 40 concessions in House of Fraser, Harrods and Selfridges department stores.

Cult store in Oxford (11 Nov 2011)

The Superdry estate has also grown rapidly overseas, and currently comprises more than 100 stores across Venezuela, the USA, Taiwan, Spain, South Korea, Panama, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Indonesia, Germany, France, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Austria and Australia. The Superdry website has also become a major sales channel, buoyed by its free delivery offer within the UK, Europe and North America.

Not surprisingly, this expansion has fuelled rapid growth both in group sales – up 42% in the three months to 30 October, following the 66% increase recorded in the previous quarter – and in profit (£47.3m pre-tax profit in the year to 1 May 2011). However, an absence of like-for-like comparisons makes it difficult to discern how sales are holding up in established stores, and the extent of any cannibalisation by newly opened shops.

Commentators’ questioning of how long SuperGroup can sustain such growth – alongside recent distribution difficulties (now apparently resolved) and a sense that the Superdry brand may be becoming overexposed – makes it one of the most fascinating retailers to follow right now, and is reflected in the business’s fluctuating share price. In March 2010, SuperGroup successfully floated on the London Stock Exchange, with the company’s share price subsequently rocketing from its initial £5 to a peak of more than £18 in February this year. However, the share price has since fallen back to just over £6.

Nevertheless, for all those question marks, Superdry’s development of good-looking stores on the high street in the midst of an economic downturn is both impressive and welcome. Presumably due to its student-heavy population, Durham has done well to secure a standalone Superdry store ahead of the larger North East retail centres of Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Darlington, and the chances are that it will be a success. However, time will tell how much further Superdry can grow – in our region, the UK, and overseas – before it starts to see increasingly diminishing returns.