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.

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Weston-super-Mare (21 Aug 2011)

In recent weeks, new developments in Newcastle, the collapse of TJ Hughes and the ongoing conversion of ex-Netto stores have given me plenty of topics to write about – somewhat at the expense of talking about new uses for former Woolworths.

Given the backlog of ex-Woolies pics that I’m building up, now is probably a good time to showcase a few of the stores that I’ve spotted on my recent travels, kicking off with three interesting and very different sites in North Somerset.

At the time of Woolworths’ collapse in 2008, the store at 64 High Street in Weston-super-Mare (store #81) was among the chain’s thirty longest-surviving shops, having opened its doors in about 1919.

In November 2009, the site was taken over by a combined Ethel Austin and Au Naturale store, but that closed down in March this year, having initially survived the cull that followed the retailer’s own collapse into administration in early 2010.

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Weston-super-Mare (21 Aug 2011)

In May this year, however, the site was snapped up by Poundland – adding to its ever-growing collection of ex-Woolies locations – though the move does mean that Poundland’s former (but much smaller) site, further along the street, is now itself vacant. For what it’s worth, the new Poundland remains instantly recognisable as a former Woolworths, given that neither of the subsequent occupants have felt the need to replace the distinctive Woolies shopfront.

Former Woolworths (now The Original Factory Shop), Nailsea (21 Aug 2011)

Down the road in Nailsea, in contrast, the former Woolworths at 61-63 High Street (#1269) has neither a long history nor any architectural features that mark it out as an ex-Woolies.

Previously a Kwik Save, Nailsea’s 8,100 sq ft Woolworths only opened in October 2007; when it closed, on 6 January 2009, it was therefore among the shortest lived of all the chain’s stores. However, The Original Factory Shop took over the site in May 2009, adding to its own growing portfolio of ex-Woolies acquisitions across the country. Unfortunately I was passing through Nailsea early on a Sunday morning, meaning that I wasn’t able to get a shot while the store was open.

Former Woolworths (now Proper Job), Clevedon (21 Feb 2011)

While Poundland and The Original Factory Shop are among the most prolific occupants of former Woolies sites around the UK, it’s good to also see some independent retailers taking the opportunity to grow their businesses off the back of Woolworths’ demise.

One such location, which I visited earlier in the year, is the old Woolworths store in Clevedon (#992) at 5-7 Old Street. Opened as a Woolworths in about 1957, the building has the same typical Woolies shopfront as the store in Weston-super-Mare, and was taken over by Proper Job – a locally-based tools and DIY chain – in July 2009. Looking around the store, it certainly seemed like an Aladdin’s cave of home, garden, hardware and decorating products – a little like an indie hybrid of Wilkinson and Clas Ohlson – and is exactly the kind of useful shop that can really drive footfall and make a positive difference to a small town’s high street.

The apparent absence of a Proper Job website makes it a little hard to find out more about the business, but I understand that there are four established stores in the Somerset area – in Weston-super-Mare, Worle, Brislington and Glastonbury – as well as a newer one, in the former Woolworths in Bridgwater, which opened in June last year.

That store, no doubt, will crop up on the itinerary of one of my future visits to the South West…

St Clare's Hospice shop, Jarrow (8 Aug 2011)

While Store Twenty One is about to take over the unoccupied part of South Shields’ former Woolies, the ex-Woolworths in Jarrow – already part-occupied by Store Twenty One – has gained a new tenant for its own vacant section.

As I reported back in November, Jarrow’s old Woolworths has been divided in two, with Store Twenty One taking the largest portion (4,112 sq ft) facing the Viking Centre’s bustling Bede Precinct. In turn, what used to be the back half of Woolies, facing the much quieter Grange Road, has been split into two further shops, totalling 3,175 sq ft. The right-hand unit, empty when I last visited (below), has now been taken over by a shop for the local St Clare’s Hospice, an independent charity that provides specialist palliative care to adults living south of the Tyne.

Grange Road frontage of former Woolworths, Jarrow (10 Nov 2010)

Monday was the first time I’d seen the unit without its shutters down, and I was pleased to see all the giveaway signs of it being an ex-Woolies, with the distinctive metal-framed shopfront and black granite stall riser. Store Twenty One, of course, has installed an entirely new shopfront on its part of the building (below), meaning that the unit’s past as a Woolworths is much less obvious from the Bede Precinct side.

Store Twenty One, Jarrow (24 Jul 2010)

Before - the former Woolworths, Jarrow (16 Dec 2009)

While the carved-up former Woolworths sites in South Shields and Jarrow inch towards full occupancy, the old Woolies in North Shields looks, sadly, to be back on the market. The well-stocked and useful MIS Wallcoverings & Textiles Superstore (formerly Cramlington Textiles) in Saville Street West, which I first visited at the end of 2009, continues to trade, but with a ‘for sale or to let’ sign above the ground-floor frontage.

MIS store (former Woolworths), North Shields (8 Aug 2011)

Marketed by local property consultants A T Retail, the particulars confirm that the 5,619 sq ft unit is being offered either for lease or for sale “with vacant possession”, though there’s currently no visible sign – other than the ‘for sale’ board – of the MIS store closing down.

Former Burton, North Shields (18 Jun 2010)

The building is both attractive and a good size, but I suspect its slightly off-centre location may be the biggest hurdle to finding a new occupant. The presence of a long-vacated and much-altered Burton’s building opposite suggests that Saville Street West was once much more of a retail thoroughfare than it is now – today, much of the street is occupied by charity shops, convenience stores and empty units, as well as a couple of disused pubs. With a bit of luck, Asda’s new store on the current Netto site in Saville Street, barely 100 metres away, might help to build footfall in the vicinity and stem the current decline.

Former Woolworths and Well Worth It, Wallsend (8 Aug 2011)

Along the river, another North Tyneside town that is looking forward to the conversion of its Netto into Asda is Wallsend. Unfortunately, the Hadrian Road supermarket is a little too far from the High Street to have much positive impact on the town’s main retail centre, but the prominent vacant Woolworths site – following a brief and unsuccessful incarnation as Well Worth It – is a potent symbol of Wallsend’s current travails, stemming at least in part from Morrisons’ failure to open its promised store on the acquired Co-op supermarket site.

Plaster Piece closing down, Wallsend (8 Aug 2011)

That has already left a big hole in the town’s Forum Shopping Centre for more than two years, which isn’t set to be filled until a planned redevelopment completes at the end of 2013. Visiting Wallsend on Monday, I spotted at least two more stores in ‘closing down’ mode, including the Plaster Piece fireplace showroom, next to the old Woolworths in Station Road, and a branch of the collapsed fashion and homewares retailer Ethel Austin (aka Life & Style).

Ethel Austin closing down, Wallsend (8 Aug 2011)

Wallsend has some decent and popular retailers, both independent and multiple, but it really could do with some new stores – such as the Store Twenty Ones and B&M Bargains of the world, as well as another reasonably priced food store – to give the town centre a much-needed boost of both morale and footfall.

The modern centre promised for 2013 looks good; the danger in the meantime, however, is that indie closures and further multiples collapsing will increasingly force Wallsend’s shoppers to look elsewhere.

Habitat, Bristol (22 Feb 2011)

It’s hard to dispute that the last couple of weeks has been a torrid time for the UK high street, with a succession of well-known names either announcing bad news or collapsing into administration.

While HMV has a stay of execution for now, other retailers in that section of the alphabet – Habitat, HomeForm, Haldanes and TJ Hughes – have teetered, joined by others such as the clothing chains Jane Norman and Life & Style.

Thorntons, Bishop Auckland (24 Jan 2011)

Comet and Thorntons, meanwhile, look set to follow Mothercare’s recent lead in radically slimming down their UK store estates. When Thorntons becomes the most popular trending topic on Twitter, as it was earlier this week, you really know that the high street’s travails have entered mainstream discussion.

So, what are the key headlines from, arguably, the most intense period of bad retail news since a flurry of retailers – among them Woolworths, Zavvi, Whittard’s and Adams – all collapsed in the final weeks of 2008?

Habitat's Tottenham Court Road flagship - which is staying open (6 Apr 2011)

• The iconic furniture brand Habitat, and three of its central London stores, have been bought by Home Retail Group, owner of Argos and Homebase, for £24.5m. However, the remaining 30 UK stores are in administration and threatened with closure, with 750 jobs at risk. Harrogate, Edinburgh and York are among the locations affected, but there have been no Habitat stores in the North East since the Eldon Square branch in Newcastle closed in the late 1980s.

• HomeForm, the private equity-owned home improvement business that owns brands such as Moben, Kitchens Direct and Dolphin filed for administration on 23 June, putting 160 showrooms and 2,800 jobs in danger. Locations in the North East include Darlington, Gateshead, Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Sunderland.

• TJ Hughes, the Liverpool-based discount department store chain, collapsed into administration on Thursday morning, two days after announcing that it was planning to appoint administrators. The chain has 57 stores, which employ 4,000 people and account for almost 2 million square feet of retail floorspace – slightly more than the entire sales area of Metrocentre. TJ Hughes stores in Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough are among those at risk.

• Young fashion chain Jane Norman collapsed into administration earlier this week. On Tuesday, it was announced that Edinburgh Woollen Mill had bought 33 of the 94 shops, saving nearly 400 jobs, with a possibility of buying 28 more stores. However, the remaining 33 sites will close – including the branch in Newcastle’s Eldon Square – and the future of Jane Norman’s 82 department store concessions is uncertain.

• Clothing and homewares chain Life & Style – the rebadged Ethel Austin – collapsed into administration for the third time in as many years last month. 22 of the rump business’s 90 stores are already closing, with 274 staff losing their jobs.

• A week ago, Kesa-owned electricals chain Comet reported a 6.8% fall in sales compared to a year before, and annnounced plans to close 17 stores and downsize 9 others.

• On Tuesday, chocolatier Thorntons revealed that it would close up to 180 shops over the next three years, accounting for almost half of its entire company-owned store estate. The additional 227 franchisee-owned stores are not affected.

All these stories are worthy of a discussion in their own right – and will more than likely crop up again in future blog posts – but, looked at as a whole, what do they tell us about the condition of UK retail right now?

TJ Hughes, Sunderland (7 Sep 2009)

Whenever a familar high street name is in danger, it’s easy to wheel out all the usual arguments about the effects of online shopping, supermarkets’ assault into non-food, and the bane of quarterly rent payments or upward-only rent reviews.

Squeezed consumer spending is clearly also a huge issue at present. The sectors that Comet and HomeForm inhsbit – electricals and home improvement – are both among the most challenging places to be right now, as demonstrated by difficult trading at Dixons, Best Buy’s struggle to make an impression in the UK, and the recent collapse of Focus DIY.

Focus, Consett (4 Jun 2011)

Without a doubt, these economic or market factors have all contributed to the recent bad news, but they don’t explain why some retailers are collapsing when plenty of others are, if not exactly thriving, at least weathering the economic storm. The John Lewis Partnership, for example, today published its healthiest weekly sales figures for some time, with the Delia effect at Waitrose and the launch of the John Lewis Clearance pushing up turnover by 12.5% compared to a year ago.

Just as John Lewis can usually be relied upon to deliver good news, it’s very rarely a complete surprise when a particular retailer goes under. Look at this week’s casualties, and you’ll see that most of them share one or more of the same attributes:

• Lack of clarity regarding the brand or proposition
• A perception of being a ‘legacy’ retailer
• Stronger competitors within their sector
• A reputation simply for being cheap, rather than offering value
• Instability and a lack of strategic direction through constant changes in ownership or management.

Habitat fascia, York (17 Jul 2010)

In its heyday in the 1960s and 70s, Habitat, for example, was truly a design and retail innovator. However, squeezed between Ikea at the value end and Heal’s and John Lewis at the top end, Habitat has since struggled to define its niche. Meanwhile, a shrinking store estate over the years – 33 now, from a recent peak of 42 – has reinforced the impression of a business in decline.

Closed-down Habitat, Birmingham (18 Mar 2010)

Jane Norman, too, has seemingly lost sight of the reasons that made it successful in the first place, with my female friends bemoaning what they see as its move downmarket – a dangerous shift, that brings it into more direct competition with bigger, and cheaper, chains such as Primark, Peacocks and New Look.

Those big names in the clothing sector have also caused difficulties for TJ Hughes and Life & Style – raising their fashion credentials in order to offer customers all-round value, and leaving behind those retailers that have sought to compete primarily on price. Add in Life & Style’s record of previous collapses (as Ethel Austin), and the fact that TJ Hughes has had four owners in the last decade, and there’s little wonder that both have become distracted from what needs to be their core focus – being top-notch retailers.

In Thorntons’ case, many of its difficulties seem self-inflicted, throwing away the upmarket cachet of its brand by spreading itself too thinly. Creating a bloated estate of 600 shops would be unwise enough, particularly when quite a lot of them offer uninspring store environments in unglamorous locations. However, letting your product be sold in supermarkets and Wilkinson was always likely to be a disaster – undermining your brand’s reputation for quality while simultaneously removing the need for shoppers to visit your own stores.

What does all this mean, looking forward? Well, those retail businesses that simply aren’t up to scratch in terms of proposition, brand, strategy or customer experience will need to up their game in order to survive. However, there’s no reason why those businesses that are well-run and have a clear reason to exist shouldn’t continue to prosper.

Poundstretcher fascia, Camborne (20 Feb 2011)

Amid the gloom of Alworths’ collapse into administration last month, it seems that there’s now some good news. Retail Week is reporting that Alworths’ variety store rival, Poundstretcher, has bought 15 of the failed chain’s 17 stores.

Only the Llandudno and Evesham Alworths stores miss out – Poundstretcher already has a presence in the Welsh resort, and has recently been advertising jobs at what will presumably be a new store in the Worcestershire town.

Closing down sale at Alworths in Llandudno (4 Mar 2011). Photograph by Dave Roberts

The outcome seems like a positive result, saving the majority of Alworths’ jobs, and preventing the reappearance of empty stores on the high streets concerned. Indeed, the purchase includes several Alworths stores that had actually already closed their doors in the last few weeks.

The widely used ‘son of Woolworths’ tag reflected Alworths’ name and business model, as well as the fact that most – though not all – of its stores were former Woolies sites. Several more recent openings, including Newark, Maidenhead and Alloa, took over premises vacated following the collapse of the fashion chain Ethel Austin.

For Poundstretcher, the deal adds to the collection of ex-Woolworths stores that it has acquired already, which stretch from Scotland (North Berwick, Edinburgh) to Cornwall (Camborne) and Northern Ireland.

Former Woolworths (now Poundstretcher), North Berwick (2 May 2010)

The fact remains, of course, that Poundstretcher is itself a lossmaking business. Back in July, I remarked that Poundstretcher’s parent company had racked up total pre-tax losses of more than £33m across the previous four years, and Retail Week has subsequently argued that the chain faces an “uphill struggle” to compete against “an impressive array of apparently more sophisticated and profitable value players.”

Former Woolworths (now Poundstretcher), Camborne (20 Feb 2011)

Today, we can certainly celebrate the good news of Poundstretcher’s acquisition of Alworths. However, the really hard work will be Poundstretcher proving that its business model is still viable, relevant and – crucially – profitable.

Full list of Alworths stores acquired by Poundstretcher:

• Alloa
• Bellshill
• Cosham
• Cupar
• Didcot
• Forfar
• Hertford
• Maidenhead
• Newark
• Newhaven
• New Milton
• Swadlincote
• Tiverton
• Warminster
• Wokingham.

Former Woolworths, Newton Aycliffe (1 Mar 2011)

With a dwindling number of empty Woolworths stores remaining in the North East, it doesn’t take too long to check out whether anything’s happening on the ground.

I revisited Wallsend’s ex-Woolies back in November, closely followed by Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. This left just Newton Aycliffe, Peterlee and Newcastle to take a look at over the last couple of days, with my visits confirming that all three are indeed still vacant and without any signs of activity.

Former Woolworths, Clayton Street, Newcastle (2 Mar 2011)

Former Woolworths, Peterlee (1 Mar 2011)

Former Woolworths, Newton Aycliffe (1 Mar 2011)

I also called into Seaham – there too, the ex-Woolies building remains empty, though as a result of Ethel Austin’s collapse rather than Woolworths’. As I’ve blogged before, the property hasn’t housed a Woolworths store for a quarter of a century, though the architecture conveys the shop’s Woolies origins much more than its Newton Aycliffe or Peterlee counterparts.

Former Woolworths and Ethel Austin, Seaham (1 Mar 2011)

The fortunes of Seaham town centre as a whole seemed even more polarised than on my previous visit. The Asda-anchored Byron Place mall on the seafront appeared to be thriving, with a good number of shoppers and 100% occupancy of its units.

In contrast, the top end of Church Street – the main pedestrian thoroughfare, and where the ex-Ethel Austin is located – was eerily quiet at 5pm, with just a few shoppers venturing into the tatty-looking and partly-shuttered Somerfield store. Presumably a Co-operative Food makeover will be forthcoming soon, providing a smarter face to the street and a welcome confidence boost for that end of town.

Somerfield, Seaham (1 Mar 2011)

While new occupants of ex-Woolies stores prove elusive for a handful of North East towns, two other places have had a welcome fillip since I last visited.

Back in September 2009, the former Woolworths in Houghton-le-Spring, near Sunderland, was a pretty depressing sight (below) with its boarded-up windows and shuttered frontage.

Former Woolworths in Houghton-le-Spring (11 Sep 2009)

Happily, the premises were taken over by Store Twenty One almost a year ago, and look a whole lot better now than they did on my previous visit.

Former Woolworths (now Store Twenty One), Houghton-le-Spring (1 Mar 2011)

I’d never visited a Store Twenty One branch prior to the company taking over the ex-Woolies sites in Stanley and Jarrow, but I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen there and at Houghton-le-Spring. In all three cases, the interiors have been completely transformed, with attractively presented merchandise, good quality signage and an overall fresh and modern look.

It’s just a pity that the company website’s “cheap clothes” tagline still rather undermines its impressive efforts instore. Someone needs to remind owners Grabal Alok that retailers don’t sell “cheap clothes” any more – only “value fashions”.

Another ex-Woolies that’s had a fashion makeover since I last visited is the branch at 12-18 Northgate in Darlington, where work on site was underway back in March last year (below).

Former Woolworths, Darlington (12 March 2010)

Again, the bulk of the property has been transformed, with Next creating a new store at numbers 12-16 that is bright, appealing, and a really positive addition to the street since its opening last July.

Former Woolworths (now Next), Darlington (1 March 2011)

Next door, a portion of the old Woolies – the Grade II-listed number 18 – remains vacant. However, carving it off from the rest of the store does make architectural sense, and allows the merits of its attractive façade to be better appreciated.

Former Woolworths at 18 Northgate, Darlington (1 Mar 2011)

Of course, the flipside of Next’s new store is that the two former Next sites on Northgate have been vacated, both of which are currently empty. The lease of the vacated 1,675 sq ft unit at 59-63 Northgate is currently being advertised by agent Molyneux Rose [broken link removed], while the nearby premises at 21-23 Northgate are empty after hosting a temporary ‘X Factor Factory Clearance’ store.

Former Next at 59-63 Northgate, Darlington (1 Mar 2011)

Former Next at 21-23 Northgate, Darlington (1 Mar 2011)

While temporary and pop-up shops have their place on the high street, there must surely be a tackiness threshold above which an empty shop is preferable – particularly when Simon Cowell’s intellectual property is seemingly being so blatantly infringed.

All this shuffling around in Darlington’s Northgate highlights the need to take any statistics on changing shop vacancy rates with a heavy pinch of salt. Taking the three former Woolies and Next units together, two were occupied and one vacant when I visited Darlington a year ago. Now, however, one is occupied, two are empty, and another vacant unit – at 18 Northgate – has been created.

Just looking at the numbers, without any understanding of the context, this reads like a retrograde step in Darlington’s retail fortunes, with three out of the four shops now being empty where previously it was only one of the three. However, most observers would surely see Next’s investment in Darlington as a positive sign for the town – even if this has resulted in some (hopefully) short-term voids.

Scary numbers might make garish headlines, but they’re no substitute for actually understanding the places that you’re writing about.

Billingham town centre (16 Nov 2010)

Regular readers of this blog will be pleased to hear that I went back to Billingham yesterday, following my earlier underwhelming visit, back in June. The homogeneity and datedness of Billingham town centre’s design mean that it’s never going to win an award for the quality of its urban spaces, but visiting on a sunny afternoon – rather than a drizzly evening – certainly helped. 

Billingham town centre (16 Nov 2010)

Boyes’ colourful (if rather dated) Christmas display – complete with animated Santa – was also having a very good stab at brightening up the dreary tunnel area at the side of its store. I suspect, however, that it would be possible to dig out a 1970s photo of the same window and not be able to tell the difference. 

Boyes' Christmas window, Billingham (16 Nov 2010)

You’ll recall that Billingham’s old Woolies site (store #820) was taken over by Ethel Austin, only for it too to collapse into administration not long afterwards. After my last visit, I reported – based on what I saw, and what I’d heard elsewhere – that Billingham’s Ethel Austin was not among the 90 stores bought back by former owner Elaine McPherson, and had therefore closed. 

Former Woolworths (now Ethel Austin), Billingham (16 Nov 2010)

However, it looks like I was mistaken – visiting Billingham yesterday the store was distinctly open, with a poster in the window explaining its imminent conversion to McPherson’s new Life & Style format. If nothing else, it demonstrates the hazard of a town centre, like Billingham, where almost all the shops are shuttered at night – creating a dead streetscape, and making it hard to identify the open stores among the closed down ones. 

As a reminder of the days when Billingham town centre was rather better frequented by the area’s shoppers, I was interested to come across a couple of old photos, from about 1964, on the excellent Picture Stockton website. Woolworths, with its familiar red signage, is clearly visible in the second of the two photographs, having opened on 19 November 1953, alongside the now-similarly-defunct names of Dewhurst butchers and the footwear retailer Freeman Hardy Willis. Interestingly, the image shows the Woolworths store occupying only three bays of the building, rather than the five that it occupied – it would seem – from at least the 1970s onwards. 

No doubt there will be someone out there who’s able to remember the store being extended – your memories, as always, are most welcome.

Shuttered Ethel Austin store

As variety chain Alworths celebrates its first birthday today, the opening of stores in Newark and Maidenhead has now been confirmed for later this month – and both will be in former Ethel Austin premises. 

While a rump of 90 Ethel Austin stores were saved in April, and are gradually being converted to a new ’Life & Style’ fascia, this is just a fraction of the 300 Ethel Austin shops that existed at the start of the year. Though not given anywhere near the same media attention as Woolworths, when it folded, Ethel Austin’s disappearance from the high street will nonetheless go down in history as one of the major retail collapses of this recession.

Indeed, with most Ethel Austin stores occupying secondary or small-town locations, the chain’s closure has, in many places, compounded the loss of Woolworths a year earlier, with Stockton among the shut-down Ethel Austin sites in the North East.

Former Ethel Austin, Stockton-on-Tees (28 Jun 2010)

If there’s a slight silver lining, it’s that the appearance of 200+ former Ethel Austin units on the market – just as the number of vacant Woolies dwindles – is apparently providing Alworths with a new source of potential store locations. The first, in Alloa, opened in July, and it seems unlikely that Newark and Maidenhead will be the last.

Snapping up Ethel Austin sites will allow Alworths to open up in locations where the old Woolies store is already occupied by somebody else, or even in places where there was never a Woolies in the first place, as well as conveying the important message that the retailer’s more than just a Woolies offshoot. Indeed, I was quite surprised to hear from Alworths that of the 237 members of staff that it employs, only 68 – less than a third – are ex-Woolies.

In the meantime, however, Alworths’ third confirmed opening for November – in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire – sticks to the old formula for the moment by opening up in former Woolworths premises.

Summing up Alworths’ first year, MD Andy Latham told Soult’s Retail View:

“It’s been an extremely busy 12 months. Many people questioned opening a new retail chain during very difficult economic times; however, it has proved to be a good year to launch a variety retailer into market towns.

“Local councils have welcomed us with open arms, as we’ve helped inject new life into many high streets where shops were shutting down. Landlords have been keen to do deals with us in order to fill the mounting number of empty shops, and best of all our customers have been delighted that they can buy music, DVDs, console games, home items, pic ‘n’ mix and children’s toys all in one store, on their local high street again.

“Ultimately, Alworths stores are for children and families and we go out of our way to cater for these markets. If we’re missing anything, we actively encourage our customers to tell us what we should be stocking – we don’t want to stand still and we appreciate that adapting to our customers’ needs is crucial to maintaining our presence on the high street. Over the past year the stores have exceeded our expectations – serving over 1 million customers and selling over 27,778,766 products – and we’re looking forward to trading 17 stores in the run up to Christmas, an extremely important time for us.” 

While Alworths’ long term strategy is to have a chain of 200 stores, there’s no confirmation, as yet, of the speculated about new shop in Lanark. However, the experience of the last year shows that local newspaper stories revealing potential new Alworths stores tend to have some truth in them – so expect an official announcement in the coming weeks…

Frontage of original Woolworths store, Stockton-on-Tees (28 June 2010)

Having missed Stockton-on-Tees’ original Woolworths when I first visited the town nearly a year ago, I’ve been keen to go back and capture a photograph of it for the ever-growing collection.

I was finally able to pay a visit a few weeks ago – the same day that I went to Billingham – and felt fairly embarrassed to have missed it the first time, given that it conforms to all the usual architectural conventions of a purpose-built 1920s Woolies.

The invaluable 100thBirthday.co.uk reveals that the store, in Stockton’s High Street, opened on 1 September 1928, before being extended in 1933 and modernised in 1966. Less than six years later, however (on 14 April 1972), the store moved to the new Castlegate shopping centre, where it remained until the closure of the entire Woolworths business in 2008/09. Though still vacant when I stopped by in September, the premises were taken over by B&M Bargains just a few weeks later.

Former Woolworths (now B&M Bargains) in Stockton's Castlegate shopping centre (28 June 2010)

Because it was a straight relocation, the Castlegate store retained the same store number (#336) as the old High Street shop. A review of the Woolworths stores opened either side of Stockton’s – #335 in Elgin, established on 4 August 1928, and #337 in Tipperary, opened in September 1928 – provides a snapshot of the pace and extent of Woolies’ expansion at that time, taking in the Republic of Ireland as well as the UK.

Original Woolworths, Stockton-on-Tees (28 Jun 2010)

An image on the 100thBirthday.co.uk website shows the original Stockton Woolworths in its 1950s heyday, and there’s a closer up photograph, from 1958, at PictureStockton. Interestingly, both old photos show the slightly strange way in which the Woolies shop frontage nibbles a foot or two into the building on the left. I wonder if this was part of the 1933 expansion, perhaps taking over a space that had previously been an alleyway between the two buildings?

Gareth Hill’s earlier comments help to fill in the building’s history since Woolworths vacated it, reporting that “…when Woolworths moved, the then North Eastern Co-operative Society acquired the store to connect to their Wellington Street department store which gave them some high street frontage.”

“The store closed in the early 90s and sadly the impressive Wellington Street building was demolished to make way for the bland Wellington Square shopping development.” The Co-op building that Gareth refers to is, I believe, the impressive edifice shown in these photographs, again at PictureStockton, dating from the late 1990s.

Former Ethel Austin, Stockton-on-Tees (28 Jun 2010)

The fact that the old Woolies property today houses a YMCA furniture shop is perhaps indicative of Stockton High Street’s changing fortunes. When I walked along the length of the street, I noted a higher proportion of vacant units than I’d seen in most other town or city centres, though many of these are the product of chains that have disappeared completely – not just from Stockton.

Hence, as well as the empty Leveys (chain collapsed) next to the original Woolies, examples that I spotted included the ubiquitous empty Ethel Austin (chain collapsed), and three prominent shops in a row that used to house Savers (#35-37; store relocated), Rosebys (#38; chain collapsed) and Radio Rentals (#39; chain closed. Site later occupied by YMCA shop).

Empty shops in Stockton High Street (28 Jun 2010)

Even among those properties that are occupied, some could do with a spruce up. Though its modern Wellington Square entrance is fine, I’m always particularly disappointed by the High Street frontage of Stockton’s Debenhams. With its tatty upper floors and blacked out windows, it’s a world away from the glamour and sheen of the new Debenhams in Newcastle. Instead, it looks more like a store that is waiting to be closed down.

Debenhams, Stockton (17 Sep 2009)

Debenhams is undoubtedly not helped by the poor condition of the striking and iconic Globe Theatre building (photographed on my previous visit), just two doors away. Currently, the empty and derelict property presents a very negative first impression to anyone entering the High Street from its northern end.

Globe Theatre, Stockton High Street (17 Sep 2009)

Hopefully, however, recently approved redevelopment plans will see this lovely building brought back to life, so that it can once again become an asset to the town centre.

Stockton Town Hall (17 Sep 2009)

Despite these concerns, my overall impression of Stockton High Street remains a positive one. Though the centerpiece is undoubtedly the attractive Town Hall, built in the 1700s, the street also retains an unusually large number of impressive and imposing commercial buildings, even if many of them – the original Woolies and Savers premises included – are disfigured by unsympathetic shopfronts and signage.

On the other hand, the town’s Marks & Spencer store has an appealing shopfront and, crucially, signage featuring the chain’s current logo. This suggests that M&S’s presence in Stockton is secure, unlike those three unmodernised M&S stores in Lincolnshire, plus another in Nuneaton, that are currently under threat of closure.

Marks & Spencer, Stockton High Street (28 Jun 2010)

My favourite building, however, has to be the astonishing little property that currently houses part of Nobles Amusements (and was previously Shoefayre), with a pictorial terracotta façade that was apparently originally built for Altham’s grocers in 1908.

Former Altham's grocers with its teracotta façade (28 Jun 2010)

In my view, Stockton town centre’s greatest asset is the combination of these attractive and imposing properties with a street that is undoubtedly one of the most impressive public spaces in any British town. Stockton Council claims that it’s the widest high street in the UK, and the sheer scale of the space certainly creates a wow factor when you step off the bus.

Stockton Town Hall and High Street (28 June 2010)

While undoubedly important in providing modern retail space, a flaw of both the Castlegate and Wellington Square shopping centre developments is that they have, to some extent, turned their backs on Stockton High Street and sucked activity away from it.

Stockton High Street (17 Sep 2010)

In this context, the Council appears to be doing the right things in celebrating its High Street’s unique character, investing in the Shambles Market Hall, and promoting the street as a backdrop for major events.

However, securing investment in the properties themselves – whether through new shopfronts or simply better maintenance of their frontages – will be a key factor in bringing empty units back into use, and in enhancing the High Street’s appeal, to both shoppers and potential tenants, as a unique and attractive retail destination.

Former Woolworths - and former Ethel Austin - in Billingham (28 Jun 2010)

Until a few weeks ago, Billingham on Teesside had been one of only three former North East Woolworths – out of the 33 that closed following its 2008 administration – that I hadn’t yet visited. Finding myself down that way recently, I therefore took the opportunity – if that’s the right word – to check the store out.

Perhaps it was the drizzle, or the fact that it was quarter-past six in the evening, but Billingham town centre was truly one of the few places I’ve visited where I’ve immediately wanted to leave again.

Billingham town centre (28 Jun 2010)

From the bus stop on The Causeway, a passage at the side of Asda led me through to the main thoroughfares of Town Square and Queensway. Immediately I was faced with a large group of youths hanging around outside the Iceland store; round the corner, others were lurking on the high-level decks that surround Queensway.

Groups of youths are not necessarily a problem in their own right, but the almost complete absence of anybody else in the town centre gave the place an eerie and unpleasant feel. This was compounded by the lack of any visual stimulation at street level – with most of the shopfronts hidden behind metal shutters, there was nothing to engage the senses. Indeed, one of the worst things about metal shutters – apart from outlawing window shopping – is that they make it difficult to distinguish shops that are closed for the night from those that are closed for good.

Billingham town centre (28 Jun 2010)

One store in the latter category is Billingham’s (former) Ethel Austin. The town had the sheer bad luck to have Ethel Austin move into its former Woolworths store, only to then see Ethel’s collapse into administration as well. Having got the photo I was after, I turned on my heel and retreated back to the bus stop – after all, there was little other reason for me, or anyone else, to want to stay around. [UPDATE, 17 November 2010: It seems that Billingham's Ethel Austin hasn't, in fact, closed down.]

Followers of this blog will know that I try and look for the best in any of the town centres that I visit – no mean feat, given some of the places I’ve been to. Billingham, however, was a challenge indeed. I’ve already resolved that I must return in the daytime when the sun is shining, in the hope that I might yet see the town’s retail centre in a more positive light.

Former Woolworths, Caernarfon (July 2010). Photograph by Sally Daffarn

I’m not quite sure if it should be a cause for celebration or urgent self-reflection when my friends start emailing over photographs of old Woolworths that they have spotted on their travels… Whichever, many thanks to Sally Daffarn for capturing this shot of the former Woolies in Caernarfon, which she “saw on holiday and thought of you!”

Caernarfon is one of the North East Woolworths sites that I didn’t get to when I was over there in September last year, and it’s interesting to see that it’s still empty and looking a little worse for wear by now. I can only assume that plans to convert the building into two shops, office accommodation and flats – announced in April last year – have fallen through.

For the moment at least, it means that Caernarfon’s Woolworths is one of a dwindling number that are still vacant, more than 18 months on from the retailer’s high profile collapse.

Former Woolworths and Publishers Book Clearance, Llandudno (25 Sep 2009)

Indeed, of the six North Wales Woolies that I saw in September, four were already reoccupied back then, by Publishers Book Clearance (Llandudno), Home Bargains (Prestatyn), The Original Factory Shop (Porthmadog) and B&M Bargains (Rhyl) – a pretty good snapshot of the types of retailers that have taken over Woolies sites across the UK as a whole.

I understand, however, that Publishers Book Clearance in Llandudno has closed down within the last few days due to the end of its temporary lease. I’m not clear whether any other retailer is lined up to move in. [UPDATE, 21 July 2010: There's a story about the closure of the store in today's North Wales Pioneer, which seems to confirm that no new tenant is in place yet.]

Planned site for The Original Factory Shop in Colwyn Bay (25 Sep 2009)

As for the two old Woolies stores that were empty when I visited – Colwyn Bay and Holyhead – I can’t find any evidence of either being occupied since.

Interestingly, The Original Factory Shop has recently announced plans to open in Colwyn Bay, but on the site of The Litten Tree pub in Station Road (still open when I visited) – despite the firm’s marketing director noting that “we have taken over a lot of the old Woolworths sites across the UK.”

Ethel Austin in Holyhead's Stanley Street, prior to closure (23 Sep 2009)

Meanwhile, it sounds like Holyhead’s high level of voids – which already included Woolies, Kwik Save and many others – has been further compounded by the loss of its Ethel Austin. However, it’s positive to read that the town is receiving funding from both the EU and the Welsh Assembly Government “in a bid to create jobs, win back shoppers and build on tourism projects”, and that “Anglesey County Council is inviting expressions of interest from those wishing to improve, develop, or occupy vacant premises in Holyhead Town Centre.”

Former Kwik Save, Holyhead (23 Sep 2009)

For all the vacant units, I felt that Holyhead had a great deal of charm and character when I visited last year, and was let down by some really unappealing and neglected buildings. Hopefully initiatives like the one that’s underway can tackle these barriers to investment, helping the town turn the corner, and encouraging it to become the vibrant place that would befit its status as a major ferry gateway into the UK.

Alworths fascia

Following on from my blog post about Alworths opening in the Clackmannanshire town of Alloa, it has now been confirmed that the new store will open this week, on Wednesday 21 July. The site, at 49 Shillinghill, was occupied by Ethel Austin, prior to that retailer’s collapse earlier this year. 

Quoting the MD Andy Latham, Alworths’ press release about the store opening highlights the point made in my earlier blog about it being the first store in the chain not to be located in an ex-Woolworths site: 

“Opening our tenth store will be a significant milestone for us. We’ve always maintained that we were not limiting our store search to just ex-Woolies sites… Our priority, as always, is to find good sites in traditional market towns and to be a local department store on the high street.” 

Like the nine other Alworths stores to date, the Alloa shop will stock “a mix of branded toys, sweets, homeware, stationery, entertainment products, seasonal goods and garden items”, as well as offering “a large selection of pic ‘n’ mix along with party accessories, cards and wrap.”

Alworths in Amersham (14 May 2010)

Given a blank canvas rather than the shell of a former Woolies, it will be interesting to see how the interior of the Alloa Alworths turn out.

This picks up on the point I made in my earlier review of the Amersham store, following my visit back in May, when I remarked that “as the Alworths chain expands further – and particularly if it starts taking over shops that were not formerly Woolworths – it will be interesting to see how it develops its own, more confident store interior style.”

The Alloa store now gives Alworths that opportunity to do something different and distinctive with its shopfit, defining it as a modern retailer with its own identity and vision, rather than one that some might perceive as harking back to the past.  

The news release also confirms Alworths’ plans to open a further seven stores in Scotland “over time”, and its intention to have 22 sites across the UK by the end of 2010. With the chain set to have ten stores by the end of July, it suggests that new shops will be opening at the rate of two or three a month for the rest of the year – a  similar rate of expansion, in fact, to when Woolworths was at the height of its growth in the 1920s.

We already know where the 11th store will be, and have a strong hint as to the location of the 12th. The arrival of a new Alworths in Hertford was reported a few days ago in the local press, with the customary job ad on the Peopletime website giving an opening date of August. The store will occupy the former Woolworths in Maidenhead Street – pictured here in happier times – which until this month housed a Well Worth It store. The latter is apparently moving to the nearby town of Hoddesdon instead, but is not, as far as I can tell, any relation to the Wallsend shop of the same name.

Former Woolworths, Tiverton (22 June 2009). Photograph by Lewis Clarke

Though there is no official confirmation yet, the 12th Alworths will, reportedly, be in Tiverton in Devon. Many thanks to the eagle-eyed John, who let me know that “according to the BT Phone Book, [Alworths] have had the telephone put on at the old Woolworths premises in Fore St, Tiverton, Devon.”

Alworths Tiverton - revealed via the Phone Book

Sure enough, a quick search of BT’s online Phone Book brings up details of the yet-to-be-announced Tiverton store. Presumably, however, no-one will be there to answer the phone for a few weeks yet…

Thank you to Lewis Clarke for the shot of Woolworths in Tiverton, which is © Copyright Lewis Clarke, and licensed for re-use under the Creative Commons Licence.

Alworths fascia

Just a week after its first two Scottish stores opened in Forfar and Cupar, the variety store chain Alworths is now “recruiting for enthusiastic, customer focussed individuals to work at its newest store opening in Alloa in July 2010.” 

Alloa, in Clackmannanshire, is exactly the type of location that we are getting used to Alworths opening stores in – a small town of less than 20,000 people, with a pleasing, compact centre. However, given that Alloa’s former Woolworths was snapped up by Poundland over a year ago, it appears that Alloa’s new Alworths – the retailer’s tenth shop in all – will be the first to open in premises that were not previously a Woolworths store. [UPDATE, 28 June 2010: I now understand that Alworths will be taking over Alloa's former Ethel Austin site.]

This move is both significant and inevitable. The dwindling pool of vacant Woolies stores in half-decent and suitable locations has always meant that Alworths would, before long, need to cast its property net wider if it is to grow. More importantly, perhaps, doing so is also likely to benefit the brand, by helping Alworths to build a distinctive and modern identity that isn’t just based on bringing former Woolworths sites back to life. 

The lack of appropriate former Woolworths sites may well be one reason for Alworths not yet making it to the North East, and I understand that there are no imminent plans for the retailer to open stores in this region. However, I’m told that the chain is continuing to scout for suitable locations across the country, and that there would be no bar to opening North East shops if the right premises in the right locations could be found. 

Meanwhile, another recently launched retail chain – the supermarket Haldanes – appears to be having some difficulties in finding, and sustaining, the right store locations. 

Launched at