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.”

Signage at UGO Lundwood (11 Oct 2011)

The emergence of UGO as Britain’s newest discount supermarket chain has been one of the most interesting retail launches of 2011 so far.

Back in January, I reported on Asda’s OFT-instigated divestment of 47 Netto stores, and the news that Haldanes would be buying 20 of those sites for a new discount fascia, UGO. Subsequently, I wrote about Haldanes’ intention to make UGO “the icing on the Netto cake”, seeking to keep the best of Netto – including its familiar yellow and black corporate colours – while bringing in an enlarged product range and additional services.

UGO’s birth hasn’t been straightforward, however. When I visited the Eston and Hartlepool shops, on Teesside, in May, I praised the stores’ external appearance and great offers, but highlighted some concerns regarding availability, instore signage and customer service.

Woodhead Bakery cakes at Lundwood (11 Oct 2011)

Two months later, when I interviewed UGO’s boss, Arthur Harris, he was having to contend with the fallout from the collapse of the eponymous Haldanes chain, as well as a need, in his own words, for the UGO stores “to trade a little bit better”. He promised, however, that “every fix possible” would be looked at, addressing key issues such as IT and ordering, product range and price, and developing vertical integration by introducing bread, cakes and pies from the recently acquired Woodhead Bakery.

A few weeks ago, at UGO’s invitation, I went to visit some UGO stores – Lundwood and Monk Bretton in Barnsley, and Eton Street (Boulevard) and Boothferry in Hull – for the first time since my Teesside trip. I was keen to see how the stores were getting on; look at what had changed from five months earlier; and have a chat with the store’s managers and staff.

So, how did the Barnsley and Hull stores fare under the five headings that I’d reviewed before: first impressions; instore signage; product range and availability; price; and customer service?

First impressions

UGO Lundwood (11 Oct 2011)

On Teesside, I praised both UGO stores’ bold and bright exteriors, and the Barnsley and Hull stores didn’t disappoint in this regard. As I observed before, UGO’s visual identity is clearly and openly inspired by that of Netto, but Darlington-based agency Charles Hollywood has done a great job of creating an overall look that combines eyecatching signage with banners and window vinyls. All four of the stores that I visited were highly visible – and very hard to miss – when arriving by car.

UGO, Monk Bretton (11 Oct 2011)

To complement the permanent signage and banners, each of the stores was recently given a £200 budget to spend as they saw fit on materials to promote October’s ’3 for £10′ wine offer – a clever way of both engaging the store teams and, potentially, coming up with some new and creative promotional ideas.

UGO Lundwood window poster, October 2011

While some stores opted for leafleting, window posters or PR activity, Monk Bretton’s huge banner – impossible to miss from the roundabout adjacent to the store – probably wins the prize for making the biggest impact.

Banner at UGO Monk Bretton (11 Oct 2011)

Happily, all the promotional activity does seem to be having the desired effect in generating awareness of UGO and, in turn, an increase in footfall and spend. While I was visiting the stores, there were decent numbers of people arriving both by car and on foot. Not enough to make the stores or their car parks really busy yet, but certainly an improvement on the occasionally eerie quietness that I experienced in May. This is backed up by UGO’s own figures, which show impressive week-on-week sales growth in the fortnight proceeding my visit, including a 36% increase at Nuneaton, 31% at Ashington and 26% at Stanley.

UGO Eton Street, Hull (11 Oct 2011)

The quality of the estate that UGO has inherited from Netto is also an advantage in creating a positive first impression and drawing shoppers in, with the buildings themselves looking smart and appealing. While the Eston store that I visited previously felt comparatively small and dark, this seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

UGO Boothferry (11 Oct 2011)

Apart from the slightly older-looking Boothferry shop – which, like Eston, shares a parade with other retail units – the UGO stores that I visited in Barnsley and Hull are good-sized, modern stores, more comparable in look and feel to the Hartlepool branch. Monk Bretton, for example, only opened as Netto in 2008, while Lundwood benefited from a major refurbishment in the same year.

UGO Lundwood (11 Oct 2011)

On entering the stores, the bright and modern feel continues. Where the ex-Netto stores taken over by Asda and Morrisons have enjoyed a comprehensive internal refit, UGO’s ‘Netto-plus’ model relies on the existing walls, flooring, ceilings, shelving and equipment being in good shape – which they generally are. Where UGO is doing especially well, however, is in maintaining the overall tidiness and cleanliness of its stores. Netto’s shops sometimes had a reputation for being messy, and the spotlessness of the stores as UGO is apparently one of the main differences that shoppers have noticed, and welcomed.

Entrance of UGO Monk Bretton (11 Oct 2011)

Of course, a cynic could argue that because business is still quieter than it was as Netto, the stores have less chance to get dirty and the staff more time to keep them clean. It’s not a given, however – there are plenty of other stores where lack of customers doesn’t translate into a spick-and-span shopfloor, and the UGO managers’ evident pride in their store environments is commendable.

Instore signage

Basket POS at UGO Monk Bretton (11 Oct 2011)

After visiting Hartlepool and Eston in May, I praised the way in which the UGO brand was implemented instore, with a consistent colour palette and tone of voice running throughout the posters, navigational signage and other point-of-sale materials. Pleasingly, this is the case in Barnsley and Hull too, from the fun ‘UGO for a basket’ cutout that greets you at the entrance to the ‘Mind how UGO’ exhortation as you leave.

UGO Eton Street, Hull (11 Oct 2011)

I particularly like the good-quality UGO-branded doormats, which add a splash of colour as you enter the stores, and help to prevent the floors getting too slippy. On the very wet day that I visited, the mats were looking a bit mucky from all the dirty feet that had used them – as long as they clean up OK, however, it shows that they’re doing their job.

Welcome mat at UGO Boothferry (11 Oct 2011)

Amid a generally high level of attention to detail, the scrappy handwritten signage that I previously spotted at Eston and Hartlepool stood out for the wrong reasons. Pleasingly, however, there was no sign of anything similar in the Barnsley or Hull stores.

Current product signage is a combination of centrally- and instore-produced A4 posters, and I spotted a variety of approaches while visiting the four stores. The centrally-produced posters were typically red and black, and stood out well against the yellow backdrop; in contrast, the instore-produced signage at all four stores, printed on plain white paper, was neat but a little lacking in professionalism. In a few cases, I also spotted a need for a proofreader to catch some of the misspellings before they make it onto the shopfloor!

Product signage at UGO Lundwood (11 Oct 2011)

At Eton Street, I noticed some of the old Netto ‘Discount Price’ paper being used up, and the yellow and red colour scheme works well in allowing the store-produced signage to fit better with the overall look and feel of the UGO brand. I’m told that UGO is about to produce its own A4 poster template, featuring a red frame around a yellow field, and this will be a welcome replacement for the underwhelming white posters in due course.

Ex-Netto paper used at UGO Eton Street (11 Oct 2011)

Another effective visual device in all the stores is the UGO-branded ‘pallet wraps’. At Lundwood, for instance, the store was using long stretches of the wraps around its promotional and non-food sections, which worked well, as intended, at disguising the unattractive pallets.

Pallet wraps around the non-food section at UGO Lundwood (11 Oct 2011)

However, I especially liked the way that Eton Street had used the wraps in shorter stretches, around its end-of-aisle displays. This seemed to work really well in creating a visual link with the other yellow elements of the store, and particularly in drawing the eye down the centre aisle.

Pallet wraps at UGO Eton Street, Hull (11 Oct 2011)

Attention to detail is important here – making sure that the wraps are clean, that the corners are neat and sharp, and that the wraps don’t (as I spotted in one store) overlap in such a way that the text is partly obscured.

Product range and availability

Fruit and veg at UGO Monk Bretton (11 Oct 2011)

Gaps on shelves were a problem when I visited the UGO stores in Hartlepool and Eston in May. However, a combination of sorting out the chain’s IT and ordering systems, and some judicious pruning to what Arthur Harris quickly recognised was an over-ambitious product range, seems to have done the trick. The fruit and veg sections – problem areas at both Eston and Hartlepool five months ago – were well equipped in all four of the Barnsley and Hull stores that I visited.

Hessle Road Woodhead branch, close to Eton Street UGO, Hull (11 Oct 2011)

Perhaps the biggest product change, however, is the introduction of Woodhead Bakery ranges across all the stores. This is a real point of difference for UGO, given that Woodhead-badged products have previously only been sold through the bakery’s own stores across the north of England. However, the purchase of the bakery by UGO’s parent company earlier this year has created great opportunities for vertical integration, as well as the ability to capitalise on a familiar and respected northern brand. Just around the corner from Eton Street’s UGO, for example, I spotted a Woodhead branch on the busy Hessle Road.

Woodhead bread products at UGO Boothferry (11 Oct 2011)

Given the benefits to the wider Haldane Retail Group, UGO’s store managers are, as you would expect, being encouraged to push the Woodhead ranges, and all the stores I visited had products such as bread, rolls, fruit pies and cakes prominently displayed.

Woodhead rolls at UGO Eton Street (11 Oct 2011)

Woodhead rolls at Boothferry (11 Oct 2011)

All the store managers I spoke to reported that the Woodhead ranges were selling really well, and it’s not surprising – the products look fresh and attractive, and are very competitively priced.

Woodhead apple pies at UGO Lundwood (11 Oct 2011)

One of the biggest sellers is apparently the 12-pack of white rolls for £1, while the large apple pies for £1 were also attracting plenty of attention. These prices are almost identical to those in Asda, so are very reasonable for a smaller chain. The 4-pack of Woodhead frozen chicken pies for £1.79 also seemed like a great deal – combining the convenience of frozen with simple packaging that lets the product, and its ‘homemadeness’, speak for itself.

Frozen Woodhead pies at UGO Eton Street (11 Oct 2011)

Price

That issue of price is clearly at the heart of UGO getting its offer right, given that it’s modelling itself on Netto and uses “where the prices are low” as its strapline.

Bacon deal at UGO Monk Bretton (11 Oct 2011)

When I interviewed Arthur Harris in June, he admitted that UGO needed to address the perception – and, to some extent at least, the reality – of it being more expensive than Netto.

Baked bean deal at UGO Lundwood (11 Oct 2011)

Again, there seems to be good progress on this front. One of the barriers to being able to offer lower prices has been UGO’s reliance on sourcing products via Nisa, the buying group for independent retailers that also supplies many corner shops and, for example, the Beales Food Hall in Hexham.

Since UGO’s launch, however, I understand that the proportion of SKUs sourced from Nisa has dropped from more than 90% to around 85% – partly as a result of the Woodhead-supplied ranges, but also through sourcing selected grocery and non-food items direct from other suppliers. Deals on bacon, baked beans and large tins of biscuits were among the non-Nisa sourced offers instore when I visited, all of which were selling well.

UGO also seems to have got cleverer in promoting and, in turn, delivering upon its best offers. Last time, I complained that some of the deals featured on the offers leaflet were difficult to locate instore, but a combination of better POS materials and giving more powers to the store managers seems to have done the trick.

Wine offer display at Eton Street (11 Oct 2011)

My understanding of how Netto worked is that store layouts and promotions followed quite a prescriptive set of rules, and there was limited scope for the store managers to tailor those to their local market. UGO’s approach, in contrast, is to give store managers greater control. At the two Barnsley stores, for example, one store manager reported doing a roaring trade in beer, while the other sells much more wine; this can now be reflected in terms of which offers are given most prominence in store. In Monk Bretton, for example, the store manager had made use of surplus fridge space to create a section of chilled wine, which he reported was selling well.

Chilled wine at UGO Monk Bretton (11 Oct 2011)

Indeed, when I visited, all the stores were making a big push on the 3 for £10 wine offer that I mentioned before, reinforced by the door-to-door leaflet deliveries and newspaper adverts in those locations where UGO has multiple stores – namely Barnsley, Hull and Liverpool.

UGO ad in Hull Daily Mail, October 2011

As the sales uplifts show, the wine offer has been a really successful footfall driver – after all, it is a good deal. More importantly, UGO will be hoping that by bringing lapsed Netto or UGO shoppers back into the store – and, perhaps, attracting some completely new customers – it will open shoppers’ eyes to how the overall offer has improved from those early days.

Customer service

Checkout at UGO Eton Street (11 Oct 2011)

Finally, to customer service – another area where there were shortcomings last time. In Eston and Hartlepool in May, the staff didn’t seem particularly happy, perhaps because they were having to deal with customers who appeared confused by the change from Netto, and who were complaining about the relatively poor levels of availability.

Five months on, and I couldn’t have been more impressed by the store managers and other staff that I met. In each of the four shops that I visited, the managers were motivated, enthusiastic, and clearly proud of their stores. Staff on the tills were also actively promoting the current offers, such as the deals on wine and tinned biscuits. In all the stores I visited, only the security guards – typically – struggled to raise a smile.

Wine offer at UGO Monk Bretton checkout (11 Oct 2011)

Despite the customer service shortcomings, one of the features I praised at Eston and Hartlepool last time was the smartness of the staff, and that was the case in Barnsley and Hull too. The staff uniforms – especially the bright yellow shirts – are eyecatching and good quality, which helps to convey a professional and positive image.

Conclusion

To truly make a direct comparison with my previous UGO visit, I’ll need to go back to Eston and Hartlepool again. However, from what I saw at the four stores that I went to in Barnsley and Hull, there have been tangible improvements to UGO’s offer and customer experience:

• The prices and offers are better, and are being more actively promoted both inside and outside the store
• The new Woodhead ranges are a real asset, and seem to be going down well with customers
• The stores look appealing, thanks to their staff and managers – who are superb – having a real sense of ownership.

Of course, there are still things that need more work. Last time I lamented the lack of any UGO-branded carrier bags, as it’s such an easy way to let customers promote the brand as they walk to and from the store. Apparently there have been some UGO-branded bags since my last visit, but the quality was poor, and some better ones are currently being sourced. Nisa bags are being used in the meantime.

There’s obviously also a need to get the stores trading better, but at least now there’s every reason to expect that customers will like what they see once they step through those doors. The success of the recent wine deal has shown that new and lapsed customers alike can be enticed back if the offer and pricing is right.

Above all, I think there’s a sense that UGO is starting to work out what it’s trying to be, and is establishing a brand personality and identity distinctive to that of Netto from which it has evolved. With recent changes to the top team and more power to store managers seemingly having the desired effect, UGO appears to be on the right track – it just needs to keep doing what it’s doing, and to keep doing it smarter and better.

New BHS, Swindon (11 Sep 2011)

While visiting Swindon’s out-of-town John Lewis at Home, I also managed to spent some time exploring the town centre.

The open-air Parade shopping centre has the distinction of hosting one of the UK’s few (as yet) new-concept BHS stores, reviewed by Retail Week’s John Ryan shortly after its June opening, and described by him as “without doubt the best shop in Swindon.” Given the store’s similarity to the new BHS shops that will be opening soon in Hartlepool and Newcastle, I was keen to take a look for myself.

Render of Newcastle's new BHS (prior to latest changes). Image by Dalziel & Pow

As you may recall from my previous blogs, BHS is taking over the prominent former Woolworths unit in Hartlepool’s Middleton Grange Shopping Centre, though the opening has been put back from this autumn to early next year as a result of the unit’s redevelopment taking “longer than expected.”

Meanwhile, in Newcastle, BHS’s planning application to revamp the old Next store was ‘granted conditionally’ last month. The core design is unchanged, though the main logo (now slightly smaller) and building surround (now York stone instead of aluminium) have been tweaked in response to council officers’ criticism of the original proposals.

At this stage there’s no official opening date, but Arcadia’s PR person tells me that an opening early next year is now more likely, rather than the autumn of this year as had been originally planned. Given the scale of building work involved, that’s not terribly surprising, particularly as any new store would ideally want to open well before Christmas rather than in the midst of festive trading.

Former BHS, Swindon (4 Jan 2010). Photograph by Brian Robert Marshall

While the upcoming BHS stores in Hartlepool and Newcastle involve a comprehensive revamp of existing buildings – including, in both cases, a new frontage – Swindon’s is a complete new build, constructed on the site of the previous rather tired BHS store (above). Many older BHS shops, such as the now-closed Newcastle store, feel sprawling and overspaced, and it’s telling that the redevelopment has provided room for a more compact, two-storey BHS (but still with a selling area of 27,000 sq ft) as well as several other new arrivals – Topshop/Topman, USC, and a funky and eyecatching River Island.

New River Island, Swindon (11 Sep 2011)

On the outside, the BHS store’s double-height glazing, bold signage and stone surround all give a real flavour of what we can expect to see on Newcastle’s Northumberland Street. Inside, the joy of the new shop is that it still feels roomy, as well as much brighter and fresher than the BHS stores of old.

New BHS, Swindon (11 Sep 2011)

Crucially, the infusion of natural light and more compact footprint ensure that the store has none of the dark and dreary corners that characterise BHS’s older estate. For example, rather than being hidden away at the back of the store, the BHS Café is now a core part of it, its location at the front of the first floor offering great views over the busy street.

Similarly, the lighting department – always a BHS strength, yet not always showcased to best advantage – sits in the middle of the first floor, providing an immediate wow factor as you step off the escalator. Indeed, throughout the store, it’s remarkable quite how much the modern setting enhances the visual appeal of BHS’s own-label product.

Where the first new-concept store in Uxbridge featured several Arcadia concessions – as introduced previously in locations such as Middlesbrough – Swindon’s is what John Ryan terms a “monobrand BHS store.” Given the existing strong presence of Arcadia’s other brands in Newcastle, I’d expect the Northumberland Street store to have a similar focus on BHS’s own ranges, though its four-floor configuration will create new and interesting opportunities for display and navigation.

Rear of BHS Reading (19 Aug 2011)

The problem, of course, is that shiny new BHS stores reinforce quite how tired many of the older ones are – and with a 183-strong estate, updating all of them fully to the new format will be both costly and time consuming. Reading, for example, has had the new logo applied to its existing street frontages; it’s a slightly clunky juxtaposition, however, and almost makes one long for the storefronts to be given a Swindon- or Newcastle-style full-on makeover.

Front of BHS Reading (19 Aug 2011)

As I’ve observed previously, some BHS stores seem to have had little or no investment in the last twenty years. In Exeter last week, for example, I spotted an unmodernised BHS still featuring the old ‘ribbon’ logo that was replaced in 1995. As if to emphasise the point, the store also featured the signature logo (1995-2010) over one of the entrance doors, and the new capitalised logo (2010-) on its window posters. In a city that has a new Debenhams, a decent House of Fraser, and John Lewis on the way, this really isn’t good enough.

BHS Exeter (6 Sep 2011)

Assuming the new BHS format is a success – and it is said, by the chain’s MD, to be “making a difference” – I suspect that we will see further stores relocating to more suitable premises, as has happened in Newcastle, potentially freeing up larger-footprint sites for other expanding retailers. BHS owner Sir Philip Green offloaded ten stores to Primark at the start of last year, at the same time as opening others, and there is persistent speculation that Primark might acquire more.

Meanwhile, just as BHS has taken advantage of Woolworths’ demise to move into Hartlepool for the first time, I’d be surprised if some of the 51 sites left vacant by TJ Hughes’ collapse don’t end up in BHS’s hands. In Sunderland, for example, the TJ Hughes site in High Street West is more comparable in size to the Swindon BHS than the current small store opposite, while few people would complain if BHS wished to work its magic on the unremittingly ugly TJ Hughes store frontage.

TJ Hughes, Sunderland, prior to closure (7 Sep 2009)

Whatever the exact permutations, I suspect that the next few years will see the BHS estate evolving into something that comprises slightly fewer but much better stores. This is likely to be good for those locations that gain the new investment, good for shoppers, and good for the future of one of Britain’s most long-established yet historically undervalued retail brands.

Thank you to Brian Robert Marshall for the shot of the former BHS in Swindon, which is © Copyright Brian Robert Marshall, and licensed for re-use under this Creative Commons Licence.

Queen's Parade frontage of former Woolworths, Hartlepool (4 May 2011)

As I briefly noted last week, Middlesbrough’s ex-Woolworths store isn’t the only one on Teesside to have recently found a new occupant. At the end of March, it was reported that Hartlepool’s former Woolies (store #322) – empty since the retailer’s collapse – is set to reopen as BHS in the autumn.

Originally opened in Lynn Street on 7 July 1928 (more of which in a future post), Hartlepool’s Woolworths branch moved to the then-new Middleton Grange Shopping Centre in 1970. The store originally had a large food hall, which was removed in 1986, and the store itself was downsized in 1990. As I observed previously, the space that Woolies freed up 21 years ago now houses Peacocks, Quicksilver and the British Heart Foundation furniture store, the latter accessed from the street rather than inside the shopping centre.

British Heart Foundation store, Hartlepool (16 Nov 2010)

I’d never visited the Woolworths store when it was still open, so wasn’t entirely familiar with the unit’s internal configuration. However, the drawings accompanying BHS’s recent planning applications for the site – H/2011/0207 and H/2011/0208 – make things much clearer.

Queen's Parade frontage of former Woolworths, Hartlepool (4 May 2011)

Despite a large proportion of the ground floor being occupied by other tenants since 1990, the plans make clear that Woolworths retained almost all the first floor. In the picture of the external (Queen’s Parade) frontage above, the ex-Woolies unit stretches the full width of the first-floor level – including the whole of the section with windows – with the British Heart Foundation store occupying just a small corner of the upper level facing Victoria Road, below.

BHF's two-storey corner unit, from Victoria Road (16 Nov 2010)

Looking at the ex-Woolies from Central Square inside the mall (below), I’d always assumed that the actual sales area covered both these levels, reinforced by the fact that there was an upper level fire exit in Victoria Walk, opposite The Galleries café. However, my impression from looking at the existing floor plans is that the post-1990 Woolworths’ sales area was, in fact, restricted to the ground floor, with the first floor used only for storage and staff rooms. I’m sure someone from Hartlepool can clarify whether that was indeed the case!

Former Middleton Grange Woolworths, Hartlepool (17 Sep 2009)

Against this backdrop, BHS’s plans for the site are especially interesting. As well as retaining a 13,948 sq ft sales area on the ground floor, new escalators will connect to a further 8,073 sq ft sales area on the first floor. There will also be a 2,019 sq ft, 119-seater café, which – if I’m reading the plans correctly – will feature new glazing overlooking the mall’s Central Square.

On the downside, the plans show that there will only be a fire exit – and no public entrance – to Queen’s Parade. Before it was downsized, the Woolworths store had a prominent frontage overlooking Victory Square, and reinstating this for Peacocks and BHS would go a long way to addressing the relentlessly inward-facing feel of Middleton Grange. As it is, the tatty Peacocks frontage – with shuttered windows and old signage – is a disgrace, looking for all the world like a closed-down shop, and doing nothing to knit the store into the pedestrian routes surrounding the shopping centre.

When I visited Hartlepool last week, there were signs of work going on inside the soon-to-be-BHS store, but nothing much to see due to all the windows being blacked out. Given the omnipresence of Middleton Grange’s security, I resisted the temptation to take any further interior shots, but will do my best to sneak something once BHS actually opens.

Screenshot of BHS Hartlepool job ad (9 May 2011)

Various positions, including Store Manager and Restaurant Manager, are already being advertised on the BHS jobs website, which reveals that the “exciting new concept store” is set to open in October, and confirms that it will offer “an exciting range of products, across Fashion and Home, to inspire our customers, along with a brand new Restaurant.” This suggests that Hartlepool’s BHS may open slightly ahead of the new Northumberland Street store in Newcastle, thereby giving us a tantalising taster of what we can expect to see here on Tyneside later in the autumn.

It may have taken Hartlepool two-and-a-half years to find a new tenant for its old Woolworths, but, ironically, it’s ended up with one of the best outcomes of any town or city in the North East. Back in December, while filming in Hartlepool with the BBC, I flagged BHS as one of the obvious potential occupants for the site, and it’s great that the unit is being filled not only with a quality name, but with a 24,000 sq ft store that will actually have more retail floorspace than its predecessor. Hartlepool still lacks a proper department store such as Debenhams, Beales or House of Fraser, but BHS’s confidence and investment should give the town centre’s fortunes a welcome fillip.

Signage at UGO store, Eston (4 May 2011)

Since first meeting them at the UGO launch press conference back in January, it’s been a pleasure to develop a really good relationship with the key people at both the Haldane Retail Group and at Charles Hollywood, the Darlington-based agency responsible for the chain’s graphic design and instore promo work.

In the last couple of weeks, the first of the 20 conversions of Netto stores to UGO have taken place, following on from the trial stores – both former Haldanes-branded shops – at Biddulph and Broxburn. In due course, I hope to be able to visit (officially) one or more of the local UGO stores and to get some interior pics for the blog.

Strongman Geoff Capes at the launch of Biddulph's UGO in February

However, with the first two North East branches – at Eston, near Middlesbrough, and Hartlepool – having already opened, I was curious to check them out as soon as possible.

So, unannounced – but without a Mary Portas-style dark wig – I went along on Wednesday (4 May) to experience and review the two shops, paying particular attention to certain key factors:

• First impressions
• Instore signage
• Product range and availability
• Price
• Customer service.

So, how did the two Teesside UGO stores fare?

First impressions

My first stop was the Eston store, which serves the town’s Whale Hill housing estate and is part of a modern retail block that also includes a Numark pharmacy and a Post Office branch. Though there is some parking close to the store, most people I saw seemed to be travelling to and from the store on foot.

UGO store, Eston (4 May 2011)

Initial impressions were good – bold UGO banners and signage ensure that the shop is hard to miss, even from the top of the road, and the overall treatment of the store exterior makes a smart and vibrant first impression.

I was a little surprised, however, to see shoppers leaving the store with plain white carrier bags. Given the obvious investment in building the UGO brand, it seems a missed opportunity to not use UGO-branded bags. Just by walking down the street, those shoppers on foot could be doing their bit to raise awareness of the local UGO store.

My first challenge at Eston was finding the way in. A lack of signage meant that it wasn’t obvious which of the two doors was the entrance, so I tentatively tried one in the hope that it was the right choice (it was).

Inside, the store is relatively compact – which is fine – though the interior did feel quite gloomy and cluttered, partly as a result of having rather fewer windows than if it were a detached, standalone store. This is a constraint of the property that obviously has to be worked with, but there are almost certainly ways – through lighting and surface treatment – to brighten things up a bit.

UGO store, Hartlepool (4 May 2011)

Hartlepool’s UGO, in contrast, feels rather more typical of a discount supermarket. Located in the Dyke House area close to the town’s main hospital, the store is housed in a functional but modern standalone building with its own car park, and is probably about twice the size of the Eston store. Though there is some housing nearby, my perception was that shoppers would be more likely to travel to this store by car than on foot.

Again, the initial impression is really good, with bold signage and banners ensuring that the store makes its presence felt strongly. After the relative disappointment of the Eston shop’s interior, I was also pleased to find that the Hartlepool store felt much brighter and more spacious, coming across very much like a typical Aldi, Lidl or, indeed, a Netto. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Haldanes used the Hartlepool store in its initial mockup artwork, as it, rather than Eston, was much closer to my expectations of what a UGO store is supposed to look and feel like.

It was almost noon when I visited Eston and gone 4 when I arrived at Hartlepool, but both stores seemed to be doing a steady – rather than a bustling – trade. Despite this, I was oddly struck by the silence in the Eston store, and – despite not usually being an advocate of instore muzak – felt that it could really use some background music to help lift the mood.

Instore signage

Happily, the excellent implementation of the UGO brand – which is highly professional, yet warm and fun – carries through to the store interiors. Again, I felt it was more effective in the Hartlepool store, where the greater brightness and sense of space allows the posters and navigational signage to work really well and be better appreciated.

On the downside, both stores featured some rather scrappy handwritten signage to indicate where items had been marked down in price, and I thought this looked a little incongruous and unprofessional amid the otherwise slick implementation of the brand.

Also, I was puzzled by the prominent use of the abbreviation ‘PMP’ on some of the instore offers posters. As a supposed retail expert, perhaps I should have known already that this stands for ‘price-marked pack’ – basically, a branded product where the offer price is highlighted and preprinted on the item’s packaging. To me it seems a little odd, however, to use retail jargon on customer-facing material.

Product range and availability

At its press launch, Haldanes made great play of UGO being “the icing on the Netto cake”, and talked of the UGO brand and product mix being designed to provide “reassurance” and a “seamless transfer” for Netto’s loyal customers. One key Netto feature – the non-food offers – have, sure enough, been carried through to UGO, and the eclectic mix of suitcases, microfibre cloths and Gino D’Acampo cookware seemed to be attracting plenty of attention in both Eston and Hartlepool.

On the grocery side, Netto’s own-brand products have obviously had to go, replaced by items from Nisa’s Heritage label. As a very infrequent Netto shopper it’s hard for me to judge the impact of this change, but there are bound to be people who will dislike the disappearance of items that they’ve got used to buying. On the plus side, Netto stores have always included a higher proportion of well-known brands than its hard discounter rivals, Aldi and Lidl, which helps to ease the transition.

A key part of the UGO strategy is to make it easier for customers to carry out a full weekly shop, by doubling Netto’s core range of branded traditional grocery lines to around 3,000 SKUs. There was certainly evidence of this instore, with plenty of different items squeezed into the space, and the presence of certain types of product – such as puff pastry (an item I buy often!) – that haven’t traditionally been available from discount supermarkets. Moreover, where items were in stock, there seemed to plenty of them on the shelf.

Overall, however, it was clear that there were some problems with availability and stock replenishment. Both stores had some notable gaps, with the fruit and vegetable aisles especially depleted. Hartlepool, for example, had no avocados or cauliflowers, so if you’d gone along with a shopping list you may well have left the store disappointed.

Price

If being able to use UGO “for all your weekly shopping” is one of the chain’s key messages, the other is surely that of value. After all, the tagline “where the prices is low” is embedded in the UGO logo and fascia.

So, are UGO’s prices low? Again, having not been a regular Netto shopper, it’s difficult for me to be sure how they compare with the store of old. Overall, my impression was that the everyday prices seemed ‘reasonable’, rather than necessarily ‘cheap’.

The prices of the fresh fruit and veg that I looked at – such as cucumbers and tomatoes – seemed to compare favourably enough with what I pay in Aldi or Lidl, while the Heritage-branded items from Nisa looked to be similarly priced to the big supermarkets’ standard own-brand items, rather than any of the ‘Value’ or ‘Basics’-type lines. Presumably when groceries are being sourced from Nisa, rather than Haldanes’ own supply chain, there’s a limit to how far the prices can differ from Haldanes’ eponymous stores or, indeed, any other Nisa-supplied outlet.

In the alcohol aisle, however, I was pleased to see UGO still offering a decent selection of sub-£4 bottles of wine, at both regular and offer prices – this is one of the areas in which Netto was always particularly useful! As might be expected, the different in size between the two stores is apparent here, with Hartlepool seeming to have a far superior wines and spirits range.

Interestingly, where hard discounters (and Asda) have tended to adopt an ‘everyday low prices’ (EDLP) strategy, one of the most notable features of UGO, for me, is its eyecatching offers, which appear to change ever three weeks or so.

UGO offers leaflet

Prior to my visits, I’d checked out the online PDF of the latest offers leaflet from the UGO website, and was struck by some of the great deals on offer. Ones that stood out included two-packs of Frü and Gü puddings for half price (£1.50, compared to RRP of £3.19); 750 ml Innocent smoothies for £1.34 (RRP £2.96 to £3.05); and New Covent Garden soups (£2.19) on buy one get one free.

These are genuinely impressive offers; on my way home, I popped into Tesco in Gateshead where I noted that the same Innocent smoothies were being sold at £2.85; today, the same price was being charged in Morrisons in Morpeth. If I lived close enough to a UGO store, these deals would definitely prompt me to make a special trip, and I can imagine other people using UGO in a similar way to ‘top-up’ their regular grocery shop. On the other hand, you might question how far UGO’s target shoppers in areas such as Eston will care about posh soup and smoothies as opposed to keenly priced everyday basics.

Given the strength and appeal of the offers, I did feel that much more could be made of them instore. I found it hard to locate the soup, smoothies and puddings offers, even though I’d looked at the leaflet beforehand and was keeping a special eye out for them. The shelf-edge signage promoting the offers was relatively low-key, and in Hartlepool there was actually no reference at all to the soup being on BOGOF. UGO’s special offers seem to be one of its real strengths, and I think more can be done instore to really shout about these deals.

Customer service

Commenting on my blog last week, George Wilson remarked that the staff in the Eston store appeared “not very happy” when he’d recently visited, so I was particularly curious to assess the quality of both stores’ customer service.

I was pleased at how smart the staff looked in their new UGO uniforms, but, like George, I was a little underwhelmed by the customer experience. To test the checkouts I bought an item in both stores, armed with a smile and a readiness to engage in conversation.

In Eston, the first staff member I approached seemed to be having trouble with her till, resulting in the person in front having to move his purchases to another checkout. She seemed a little flustered as she told me – perhaps rather abruptly – that “there’s no point in you putting your stuff on this till”. I duly moved over to the next till and paid for my purchase, where the member of staff was pleasant rather than friendly. Based on my experience, I probably wouldn’t go back to the Eston store unless it was my local shop.

In Hartlepool, my experience at the checkout was similar; the service I received was adequate rather than exceptional – polite and perfunctory, rather than warm. I noted that the customer in front of me seemed to be complaining about certain items they wanted not being in stock, and there’s always a danger that this frustration from shoppers rubs off on the staff. If the availability issues can be quickly sorted, happier customers will hopefully lead to cheerier staff. Whatever the reasons, however, it does seems that there’s still a bit of work needed if UGO is to deliver on its promise – stated in the press pack that I received in January – to concentrate “huge effort on delivering the very best in customer service.”

Conclusion

Signage at UGO store, Hartlepool (4 May 2011)

To be a success, UGO needs to keep happy as many as possible of Netto’s customers while simultanously attracting new ones – no mean feat for any business taking over another retailer’s stores.

Having tried out the UGO experience, two particularly positive features stand out for me. The first is the implementation of the UGO brand, which is excellent throughout. Carrier bags and handwritten signs excepted, UGO has managed to develop a bold, distinctive and highly professional look and feel for the brand, carried through from the welcoming store exterior to the instore signage and offers leaflets.

UGO store, Hartlepool (4 May 2011)

The other real positive is UGO’s special offers. Some of the deals on the products that I regularly buy are among the best I’ve seen in any supermarket, and the chain’s marketing – externally and instore – really needs to celebrate these, perhaps through explicit price comparisons with other retailers, rather than less easily understood references to RRP.

As far as negatives are concerned, issues such as brightening up the Eston store interior or making sure the tills work are easily fixable. However, the crucial area for improvement is ensuring that the stores have in stock the products that people are expecting to find.

Haldanes, rightly, sees an opportunity to drive footfall and sales at UGO by offering a wider product range than Netto ever did, making it a place “for all your weekly shopping.” As the business finds its feet, delivering on this promise will be key. The danger, otherwise, is that shoppers will get out of the UGO habit as they head off to Morrisons in search of their cauliflowers and avocados.

Netto store in Gateshead

As I blogged earlier, Asda’s acquisition of Netto’s UK business moved a step closer yesterday, with the news that it has reached agreement to sell most of those Netto stores that overlap with existing Asda sites.

Back in May, when Dansk Supermarked A/S agreed to sell its 194 UK Netto stores to Asda for £778m, it was widely expected that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) would require Asda to divest some of that portfolio, in order to avoid a lessening of local competition in areas where Asda and Netto are currently both represented.

Asda store

This was confirmed in September, when the OFT announced that it had reached agreement with Asda to divest 47 stores where there were local competition concerns. Of these, the OFT was concerned that some stores may not be of interest to other eligible food retailers, so required Asda to find suitable upfront buyers for those shops before it would allow the remaining store purchases to proceed. At the time, however, “reasons of confidentiality” meant that the identity of the 47 stores to be divested was not revealed; similarly, the number or locations of stores requiring upfront purchasers were not made public either.

Now, yesterday’s various announcements from the parties concerned reveal that Asda has secured buyers for 39 of the 47 divestment stores – including all 25 of those on the upfront list – in the shape of Morrisons, Iceland and the independent grocer Haldanes.

Morrisons – 16 stores

Morrisons store

Morrisons is snapping up 16 of the 39 stores – including 6 from the upfront list – for £28.1m, adding 120,000 sq ft of space to its expanding small-store estate. The handover of stores is expected to take place on a phased basis starting in March, with all the shops expected to be converted to the Morrisons format over the following three months.

Several of these stores – in Castletown (Sunderland), Bedlington and Shildon – are in the North East, while others are in Telford, Tamworth, Rugby, West Bromwich, Oldbury, Boston, Newton-le-Willows, Breightmet (Bolton), Accrington, Castleford, Ravensthorpe (Dewsbury), Armthorpe (Doncaster) and Bransholme (Hull).

Haldanes – 20 stores

Haldanes store

The independent Grantham-based grocer Haldanes is taking a tranche of 20 stores – all but two from the OFT’s upfront list of 25 stores – including North East sites in Ashington, Eston, Hartlepool and Stanley. The other sites to be taken over by Haldanes include Athersley (Barnsley), Blackburn, Boothferry, Bradford, Carcroft (Doncaster), Hull (two stores), Kirkby, Liverpool, Lundwood (Barnsley), Monk Bretton (Barnsley), Nuneaton, Retford and Rotherham, all from the upfront list, plus one each in Bury and Burnley.

Only last week, I remarked that Haldanes’ expansion seemed to have stalled, after an initial period of rapid and spectacular growth. Only launched as a company [broken link removed] in October 2009, the business built up its present portfolio of 23 former Somerfield or Co-op stores over a dizzying two-month period, but there had been no new supermarket acquisitions since January last year [broken link removed]. Indeed, the swift closure of acquired stores in Pontefract and Dunbar, the failure to open the shop it bought in Pwllheli, and reported trading difficulties had all raised question marks over the business’s ability to compete in the UK’s cutthroat supermarket sector.

However, after a quiet few months, this latest acquisition suggests that Haldanes is back on track – good news given that the recent history of the UK grocery sector has tended to involve smaller retailers disappearing through acquisition or collapse, rather than new competitors entering the market and keeping the established players on their toes.

Interestingly, the OFT notes that Haldanes plans to convert the acquired stores to a new discount brand, UGO, which will reportedly “build on the discount retailing strengths of Netto but will also have stronger and broader core grocery range together with a much wider health and beauty offer.” Given that many of the stores on the OFT’s upfront list are, by definition, in less glamorous locations, Haldanes’ move seems like the right approach, and should avoid a repeat of when Somerfield scared away Kwik Save shoppers by converting stores to its eponymous – and more expensive – fascia.

Iceland – 3 stores

Iceland store

Iceland’s package of three stores includes just one from the upfront list, in Platt Bridge, Wigan. Iceland’s marketing department tells me that the two others are in Spennymoor, up here in County Durham, and at Lane Top in Sheffield.

What it all means

Netto in North Shields

So, what does all this mean for the UK’s grocery sector, and for the consumers who shop at those stores?

What’s clear is that the Netto brand will have vanished from the UK by the end of this year, though it will remain elsewhere in Europe – Dansk Supermarked is only selling its British stores, not those in Denmark, Germany or Poland. The 147 Netto stores that Asda is keeping are set to be rebranded as ‘Asda Supermarket’, while Morrisons, Haldanes (UGO) and Iceland will all convert their acquired stores to their own fascias.

Existing Asda in Seaham

Shoppers will no doubt welcome the news that Asda’s converted Nettos will charge the same prices as all existing Asdas, and will feature an average range of 10,000 products – up from Netto’s 1,800. However, some of those who currently use Netto on a regular basis will surely feel some sadness at the loss of its distinctive shopping experience and eyecatching offers.

As noted above, Haldanes’ new UGO stores look likely to be the closest thing to a ‘son of Netto’, presumably combining the best facets of Netto with Haldanes’ own experience of running compact supermarkets over the past year or so.

Given the strong North East presence, it will be fascinating to see what the UGO stores look like, and how they fare. While operating multiple fascias can be a really successful way of targeting different market segments – not just in the grocery sector – it can be a disaster if the execution is poor or the differentiation unclear.

Haldanes store

Indeed, Haldanes tells me that the company is about to launch a third fascia – Haldanes Xpress – which will be applied to a newly acquired petrol forecourt, a convenience store with a post office, and a further eight convenience stores that Haldanes is in “advanced discussions” to buy.

For Iceland, the three new stores represent a modest acquisition for a company that has snapped up well over 50 old Woolworths sites during the past two years, and perhaps suggests that, having reached nearly 800 shops, the number of suitable new sites for Iceland stores is starting to slow.

For Morrisons, however, its purchase signals a determination to make further inroads into the lucrative small supermarket and convenience space. It’s easy to forget that only six years ago, Morrisons had little interest in smaller stores, selling a package of 114 Safeway Compact stores to Somerfield for £260m. Ironically, Co-op’s takeover of Somerfield meant that many of those former Safeways were later resold where they overlapped with existing Co-op sites. In some locations – such as Birtley in Gateshead – Morrisons actually bought back sites that it had disposed of only a few years earlier.

Sainsburys Local store

Nevertheless, with Sainsbury’s and Tesco having already built up their successful small-store estates over many years, and Asda acquiring a strong presence in one fell swoop through its Netto acquisition, Morrisons has a fair bit of catching up to do.

Back in November, there were highly unlikely rumours – seemingly without foundation – about Morrisons planning a takeover bid for the upmarket online grocer Ocado. While Morrisons may be wary of any more major acquisitions after the problems it had digesting Safeway, I would have thought that snapping up a smaller competitor – as Asda has done with Netto – would be a more likely takeover scenario.

A few moments ago I mentioned the former Safeway and Somerfield store in Birtley, in Tyne and Wear, which Morrisons took over in 2009. Unfortunately, Morrisons then decided that it had no use for the site, which has remained vacant ever since and is now being marketed as part of a larger potential development site.

Asda at Washington Galleries

This development has left Netto as Birtley town centre’s only supermarket. However, this store, in turn, is one the eight remaining Netto stores that the OFT is requiring Asda to dispose of, presumably due to the proximity of the huge Asda store – the old Woolco – at Washington Galleries.

Just like in Wallsend – where another store acquired by Morrisons has never opened – Birtley has undoubtedly and understandably suffered from the unexpected closure of its main supermarket. Hopefully a purchaser for the Netto store will be announced soon – after the disappointment and uncertainty of the last couple of years, Birtley surely deserves a food retailer that will invest in the town, and give the locals reassurance that they’ll still have somewhere to shop.

Graham filming with the BBC's Chris Jackson in Stockton High Street

Those of you in the North East and Cumbria (or anywhere else with access to Freesat), may be interested in watching BBC1 at 7.30 pm tonight (Monday 6 December)! [UPDATE: The programme is now available to watch on iPlayer.]

The regional Inside Out programme includes an interview with me as part of a feature on the state of the North East’s high streets; coincidentally, the programme also has a report (not involving me) on the transformation of Robbs of Hexham, under the new ownership of Beales.

Hexham's transformed Robbs store (4 Dec 2010)

The high street theme is running across all the regional editions of Inside Out this week – in the BBC South version, for example, Claire Robertson from Wellworths is making an appearance, talking about Dorchester’s success in maintaining a very low number of empty shops. 

The programmes’ timing deliberately coincides with the release of new research into empty shop rates that the BBC commissioned from the Local Data Company, as well as with the impending second anniversary of Woolworths’ demise – hence the BBC asking me if I’d be willing to be involved.

B&M Bargains, on the site of Stockton's old Woolworths (22 Nov 2010)

I had a really enjoyable and interesting day filming with the BBC in Stockton and Hartlepool – happily just before all the current snow and ice kicked in. The reason for filming in Stockton was its dubious honour of having nearly 30% of its town centre shops empty – one of the highest proportions of any of the 500 town centres covered by the LDC survey. My job was to provide some insight into why Stockton has such a high vacancy rate – building on my August blog post on that topic – as well as commenting on the success of those discount retailers, like B&M Bargains in Stockton, that have taken over old Woolies sites across the region.

Stockton High Street (17 Sep 2010)

As you know from my previous comments, I have rather a fondness for Stockton town centre. Its unusually wide High Street is one of the best urban spaces anywhere, and it is lined by some beautiful – if sometimes neglected – buildings.

Castlegate Shopping Centre, Stockton (28 Jun 2010)

Equally, visit the Castlegate Shopping Centre, where we started our filming, and you can also be forgiven for wondering where the LDC got its figures from. Though very much based around a value offer (including Wilkinson, Poundland and Home Bargains, as well as B&M), there are hardly any vacant units and the mall was really busy with shoppers on the Monday morning that we were there.

Wellington Square, Stockton (17 Sep 2009)

Nevertheless, walk the length of the High Street towards the empty Globe Theatre and the number of vacant units does start to add up. In Wellington Square, Stockton’s newer shopping centre, I counted at least 15 (mostly smaller) empty units, despite the presence of strong anchors such as Debenhams, New Look, H&M and (a modernised) M&S. Around the corner, in the High Street itself, one particular stretch includes only one permanent shop in a row of six units that are otherwise either empty or to let. With these kinds of numbers, the LDC findings begin to make sense.

Empty shops in Stockton High Street (22 Nov 2010)

So, why does Stockton have so many empty shops? When the BBC’s Chris Jackson asked me this question while filming in front of some of these vacant units, I suggested that it was down to a combination of factors.

While it’s easy to blame out-of-town retail, it’s certainly true that Stockton town centre has to compete with an unusually large number of out-of-town stores, both at Teesside Shopping Park and Portrack Lane. This doesn’t stop some retailers, such as M&S, having a presence both in-town and out – indeed, even B&M has just opened a Homestore in part of the old Big W at Portrack Lane, obviously seeing this as complementary to its Castlegate shop.

Marks & Spencer in Stockton (16 Nov 2010)

However, other retailers that could conceivably have a Stockton town centre presence, like Next and TK Maxx, already have stores at Teesside Shopping Park instead. Factor in the competition from Middlesbrough’s strong retail centre just four miles away, and it’s easy to frame Stockton as having a town centre that is simply too large for its current needs. Imagine that Stockton’s empty shops could be magicked away, with those that remain compressed into a smaller footprint. Without the distraction of the empty units, what you would see is a pretty strong retail offer for a place of Stockton’s size. Indeed, there are plenty of towns that would love to have both Debenhams and M&S on their high street, as Stockton still does.

Closed-down Rosebys in Stockton (16 Nov 2010)

As I explained to Chris, however, Stockton’s situation is not all down to local factors. There’s little any place can do when quite a number of its empty shops – such as a former Ethel Austin, Leveys, Rosebys, Au Naturale and Internacionale – are the consequence of weak retailers collapsing or struggling at a national level. Unfortunately, such names tend to be disproportionately represented in more secondary or less affluent retail locations rather than in major city centres, exacerbating the problem of empty shops in those places that often most need a retail fillip.

However, work already underway in Stockton provides some optimism for the future. The local council seems to recognise what needs to be done, improving the appearance of empty shops to minimise their blighting effect on the town centre, and supporting the transformation of the derelict Globe Theatre into a venue that draws people into that part of the High Street. All this is helped by the fact that Stockton High Street offers such a unique and impressive setting.

Inside Middleton Grange, Hartlepool (17 Sep 2009)

In contrast, Hartlepool’s town centre, where we filmed later in the day, suffers from having much less richness and character, due to its town centre basically being the Middleton Grange shopping centre. As with other homogeonous town centres such as Washington, this inevitably limits the options for retailers looking to enter Hartlepool, particularly those that would prefer a bustling high street location to an enclosed mall. After all, there must be some reason why Hartlepool’s large Woolworths site remains empty at the same time as many big names (and potential occupants) – such as BHS, H&M, TK Maxx and TJ Hughes – remain absent from the town.

Church Square, Hartlepool (16 Nov 2010)

Though parts of Middleton Grange are bright and busy, it suffers from being largely inward facing, and from having inadequate physical connections with the surrounding area. It is around these edges – notably in the dismal Market Walk area – where Middleton Grange seems to have its largest number of empty units.

The desolate Market Walk area of Hartlepool (16 Nov 2010)

I love the vibrancy of Hartlepool Marina, as well as the pleasing architecture and townscape of Church Square and Church Street (part of Ralph Ward Jackson’s original town centre for West Hartlepool – more of which in an upcoming post). However, getting to these places on foot from the town centre is stymied by a succession of busy roads, despite the distance not being very great. For the same reason, I suspect few of those who visit the Marina, Museum of Hartlepool or HMS Trincomalee make it over to the town centre.

The attractive Hartlepool Marina (17 Sep 2009)

Apart from making Hartlepool less hard to navigate, an important point I made on camera related to the town’s lack of a department store. Go back twenty years, and Hartlepool had Binns (House of Fraser) as well of Uptons, anchoring either end of Middleton Grange.

The outline of the former Binns logo can still be seen (16 Nov 2010)

Today, the Binns site is occupied by Wilkinson, and the old Uptons is a Co-op Home Store – basically one of Anglia Co-op’s Westgate Department Stores, but with only home-related departments and no fashions. If Hartlepool is to prevent the leakage of shoppers to centres such as Middlesbrough and Sunderland, this is a gap that really needs to be filled.

Co-op Home Store, Hartlepool (16 Nov 2010)

Having said all this, I’m not entirely sure how much of the filming is going to be used in the programme tonight – I know that the need to report on the impact of the current cold weather has meant that the retail features have, unfortunately, had to be trimmed. Let’s just hope that Inside Out doesn’t feel a late urge to report on Newcastle United sacking yet another manager earlier this afternoon…

British Heart Foundation store, Hartlepool (16 Nov 2010)

While visiting Billingham yesterday, I also managed to fit in stops in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. In Hartlepool, there is no sign of the large empty Woolies site in Middleton Grange’s Central Square (store #322) – previously photographed here – being reoccupied. However, a British Heart Foundation furniture shop has opened up in what was historically – prior to 1990 – part of the shopping centre’s Woolworths store.

When Middleton Grange opened – originally as an open-air shopping centre – Woolworths was one of its anchor tenants, with a prominent frontage to Victory Square. 100thBirthday.co.uk has a shot from 1970 that clearly shows this entrance, taken from almost the same spot as my shot above.

Victory Square, Hartlepool (16 Nov 2010)

However, just as many of the largest Woolies stores were closed or downsized in the 1980s, I understand that the Hartlepool Woolies was reduced in size in 1990, with the  British Heart Foundation and Peacocks both now occupying parts of the space that Woolworths vacated back then.

Former Woolworths and Waremart, Middlesbrough (28 Jun 2010)

Like Hartlepool, nothing seems to be happening with Middlesbrough’s old Woolies store (#1200) either. Value retailer Waremart took a temporary lease on the Hillstreet unit in April last year, and was trading from the site when I first visited back in September 2009.

However, Waremart had closed by the time I returned in January this year – presumably linked to its difficulties reported elsewhere – and the site remains empty now.

Woolworths sign at back of Hillstreet mall (16 Nov 2010)

Meanwhile, Woolworths lives on in Middlesbrough as far as the sign around the back is concerned. Given the message that the sign conveys – “here is a long empty unit we haven’t let yet” – perhaps the Hillstreet management will decide to take it down eventually?

Former Woolworths, Redcar (17 Sep 2009)

Stop one is High Street in Redcar, where the former Woolworths store has recently become a branch of the Yorkshire Trading Company. As always seems to be the case with old Woolies stores, it still looks and feels much like a Woolworths inside, and appears to sell a similar range of goods – homewares, gardening products, confectionery, and the like. However, when I visited there seemed to be a lot of empty shelf space left to fill, with some sections of the store not yet stocked at all. The shop’s highlight, however, is its surprising yet lovely view out to the sea from its back door – presumably something that few old Woolworths stores can boast.

Next stop is Middlesbrough, where the Woolies branch in the town’s Hillstreet Shopping Centre is now occupied by another discount variety retailer, Waremart.

Former Hillstreet Woolworths, Middlesbrough (17 Sep 2009)

This is another huge store, and again it felt to me that the stock was spread rather thinly to fill the space. However, unlike the YTC shop in Redcar – which has reportedly signed a 15-year lease for the property, and has an air of permanence – Waremart has only, as yet, taken a temporary lease for the Middlesbrough site. Though the mallside fascia is pretty smart, the shop’s lack of permanence does comes across in its ‘pile it high’ instore feel. The fact that the Woolworths signs facing the service yard are still in place (below) is also a bit of a giveaway!

Old Woolworths sign at the back of Waremart in Middlesbrough (17 Sep 2009)

Niggles aside, the Woolies stores in Redcar and Middlesbrough do at least have the benefit of being reoccupied – which is more than any of the others I saw today. The old Woolworths at the third port of call – the Castlegate Shopping Centre in Stockton-on-Tees High Street – is decidely empty, with apparently little sign of anything happening. The same is true of the fourth stop, at Hartlepool’s Middleton Grange, where the two-storey former Woolies really leaves a big hole in the middle of the mall.

Former Woolworths, Stockton-on-Tees (17 Sep 2009)

Former Middleton Grange Woolworths, Hartlepool (17 Sep 2009)

The next call – at Houghton-le-Spring, near Sunderland – is a bit of a cheat, given that it’s a Woolworths passed only on the bus, without actually stopping. However, I did have a wander round Houghton-le-Spring less than a week ago, so it seems only fair to count it as Woolies number five. With its broken and boarded up first floor windows, this store is looking rather a mess - again, however, there appears to be no sign of anything imminent happening.

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

The sixth and final stop is back home in Gateshead.

Former Woolworths, Gateshead town centre (17 Sep 2009)

If you were being uncharitable, you might claim that an empty shop is more in keeping with Gateshead town centre than an occupied one, given the unusually high rate of voids – a reported 60%. However, it’s difficult to judge how Gateshead is really faring given that a huge chunk of the town centre is currently being demolished as part of the Trinity Square redevelopment. There are positive signs, though – an independent ladies’ fashion shop has opened in the prominent former Leveys site opposite the bus station, while a pawnbroker is due to open in the corner unit of the former Co-op department store this coming Saturday… However, it’s difficult to see much happening with the Woolies site while the town centre is in redevelopment flux, unless Tesco chooses it for its temporary store over the smaller (but already acquired) old Kwik Save premises down the road.

So, what does all this show? Certainly, it seems to mirror the UK picture in so far as a majority of former Woolworths stores remain empty. Similarly, it also echoes the way that many of those Woolworths that have been taken over are now occupied by value variety retailers – ironically, a niche that Woolworths could and should, in different circumstances, have carved for itself.

Perhaps most importantly, it reminds us – if a reminder were needed – of just how ubiquitous Woolworths was in our high streets and shopping centres, and the gap that has been left by its departure; a gap that, as yet, has only been partially filled.

Update - 14 October 2009: It looks like the store in Stockton has now been taken over by B&M Bargains.