La Senza closing down in Newcastle (2 Jan 2012)

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

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

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

Northumberland Street

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

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

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

BHS site, Northumberland Street (1 Jan 2012)

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

Site of Primark extension, Newcastle (1 Jan 2012)

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

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

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

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

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

La Senza closing down in Newcastle (2 Jan 2012)

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

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

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

Blacks, Newcastle (8 Aug 2011)

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

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

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

HMV Newcastle (1 Jan 2012)

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

Monument Mall

Wallis closing down, Newcastle (1 Jan 2012)

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

Evans closing down, Newcastle (1 Jan 2011)

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

Monument Mall, Newcastle (26 Oct 2011)

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

Peacocks, Northumberland Street (25 Jun 2010)

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

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

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

Eldon Square

Northumberland Street entrance to Eldon Square (17 Jun 2010)

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

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

New Next, Newcastle (10 May 2011)

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

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

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

Summary

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

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

New BHS Newcastle site (28 Dec 2011)

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

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

Site of new Newcastle BHS (29 Nov 2011)

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

Newcastle's Primark extension underway (29 Nov 2011)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Former Woolworths, Perth (23 Feb 2009)

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

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

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

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

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

Former Woolworths (now temporary BHS), Swindon (11 Sep 2011)

If you saw my earlier post about the shiny new BHS in Swindon, you might be wondering what happened to the retailer during the 18-month period that its old store was being redeveloped. Well, rather conveniently, there was an empty unit in nearby Regent Street where it was able to open a temporary store: the site of Swindon’s former Woolworths.

At the time of Woolies’ collapse in 2008, the Swindon store (store #38) was one of the longest established in the country. It opened at 23-25 Regent Street on 12 September 1914 – almost 97 years to the day before my visit – and underwent a series of extensions and redevelopments in 1936, 1973, 1980 and 1995.

Old postcard of Woolworths in Swindon, c.1960

Sadly, the rather functional present-day frontage bears no resemblance to the more elegant, cinema-style façade that existed previously – similar to the one still found at Chester-le-Street. However, the attractive turreted Next building (in the middle of both shots, above and below) ensures that there is at least some visual link between the 1960s and present-day views along the street.

A similar view along Regent Street today (11 Sep 2011)

Now that BHS’s new store is open, I’d rather expected to find the former Woolworths store vacated again. However, BHS looks to be hanging on to the space for the moment, badging it as a BHS Furniture Clearance Outlet.

When you visit Swindon, that word – outlet – seems to assail you at every turn, with both positive and negative consequences for the town. In the Swindon Designer Outlet, owned by McArthur Glen, the town has one of the busiest and best outlet shopping centres in the country, housing 120 stores in the Grade II-listed Great Western Railway Works – a truly fantastic series of spaces.

Swindon Designer Outlet (11 Sep 2011)

With outlet stores from big names such as John Lewis, Next and M&S, as well as designer brands like Aquascutum, Hugo Boss and Tommy Hilfiger, there’s little wonder that the centre was packed with shoppers when I visited. Indeed, according to CACI Retail Footprint data, the outlet centre alone generates £160m of annual expenditure – equivalent to Tamworth’s vast Ventura Retail Park.

Swindon Designer Outlet (11 Sep 2011)

However, while bringing shoppers and their spend into Swindon, the Designer Outlet is perhaps just a little too far away from the town centre – a good 10 minutes’ walk – to have much of a positive knock-on effect. On the contrary, there are bound to be some names whose presence at the Designer Outlet rules them out of taking space in the town centre proper.

House of Fraser Outlet, Swindon (11 Sep 2011)

Once in the town centre, the outlet theme continues, somewhat controversially. In 2008, Swindon’s established House of Fraser store was rebadged as a House of Fraser Outlet, featuring end-of-the-line branded stock from other stores in the chain. While better than losing House of Fraser completely, it’s hard to see this as anything other than a retrograde step.

Looking around the store on Sunday, it felt rather like a more upmarket TJ Hughes, with a slight ‘jumble sale’ feel and the sense that it’s no longer really a proper department store. For that, shoppers must go along the street to Debenhams, which itself makes a fairly unglamorous impression from the outside.

Debenhams, Swindon (11 Sep 2011)

Swindon might have a shiny John Lewis at Home on its outskirts, and the country’s most modern BHS in its centre, but I have to confess to being slightly underwhelmed by the town centre – both in terms of its retail offer and the overall quality of the public realm.

Perhaps my expectations were too high? After all, with annual retail expenditure (according to CACI) of £350m, Swindon town centre is barely a third of the size of nearby Bristol or Reading (each £1.2bn), and ranks below both Darlington (£360m) and Middlesbrough (£430m) in the North East. In my previous post, I cited John Ryan’s assertion that the new BHS was “without doubt the best shop in Swindon”, and it’s hard to really argue with that claim.

So, against this mixed backdrop, what might the future hold for Swindon’s former Woolworths site once BHS finally moves on? Usefully, the town’s growth and regeneration company, Forward Swindon, commissioned a ‘Town Centre Healthcheck’ from GVA Grimley in May last year, which reported in November.

Drawing from the FOCUS real estate database, this report found that a relatively small number of retailers (30) had a requirement for space in Swindon, particularly in comparison to other large centres in the south, such as Oxford, Reading and Bristol. Of these, just two – Asda Living and the now-much-reduced TJ Hughes – had a requirement for more than 15,000 sq ft of retail space.

Of course, Swindon’s recent BHS development – and similar retail schemes elsewhere – remind us that if developers build the right quality of space in the right locations, retailers will often find a requirement. As Swindon looks forward, I can’t help thinking that the Woolworths site might need another redevelopment of its own if it’s to have a sustainable and long-term future as prime retail space.

3DReid's proposal for the remodelled Primark/ex-BHS building

Interesting retail things always seem to happen on Tyneside while I’m on holiday! This time, I returned from Slovenia yesterday – hence the lack of recent blog posts – to find that the planning application for Newcastle’s new Primark flagship has been submitted while I’ve been away.

While the news of Primark’s expansion has been known since the adjacent BHS store began closing down in January, the planning application is significant in revealing for the first time the shape, size and appearance of the proposed store.

A more detailed trawl through the application’s 52 accompanying documents will have to wait until I’ve caught up with my post-holiday tasks, but we now know that the store will be huge – with 10,650 sqm (114,636 sq ft) of retail floorspace – and that it will involve a radical remodelling, above, of the property’s frontages to both Northumberland Road and Northumberland Street. The Evening Chronicle’s coverage of the story suggests that 200 new part-time jobs will be created as a result of the expansion.

...and how it looked before (7 Mar 2010)

Judging by the comments at SkyscraperCity, reaction to 3DReid’s radical redesign seems mixed, with some forum members – not entirely unjustly – likening the new look to that of an east European department store. To be fair, the slightly grainy quality of the renders makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions, but there’s little doubt in my mind that almost anything would be an improvement on what’s currently there. The introduction of much more glazing and what looks like an elaborate lighting scheme are particularly welcome in enlivening what has, to date, always been a blank and unforgiving façade.

How the new BHS will look. Image by Dalziel & Pow

With Primark’s proposals coming hot on the heels of BHS’s plans for an equally radical reworking of the adjacent former Next store, above, 2011 is certainly shaping up to be a significant year for Newcastle city centre retail. Readers, journalists and visitors to Newcastle often ask me to summarise what’s currently happening in the city centre, so here, by way of reminder, are the key developments that any Newcastle retail watcher should include within their itinerary.

Northumberland Street

Cotswold, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (14 Mar 2011)

• At the top end of Northumberland Street, opposite M&S, preparatory work is underway on Newcastle’s new Primark, expanding the chain’s existing store (in a former C&A unit) into the vacated BHS site.
• Next door, the former Next is being transformed into a four-storey, new-concept BHS. Plans for a bold new frontage are still yet to be approved, but Arcadia Group says that the store is expected to open by the end of the year.
• Further down the street, Clas Ohlson’s twelfth UK store is set to open next month, covering 20,333 sq ft of retail space on the site of the former Collectables store.
• Elsewhere in the street, the new Peacocks, Cotswold Outdoor and Currys/PC World stores – all opened during 2010 – are among those chains’ most impressive high-street shops, and are all worth a visit.

Grainger Town

Hotel Chocolat, Blackett Street, Newcastle (12 Jan 2011)

Around and south of Grey’s Monument, the potential loss of TJ Hughes – currently in closing-down mode – is undoubtedly a worry, but there are plenty of other signs that the area is bouncing back after several years of high vacancy rates:

• Big upcoming arrivals are the three-storey Urban Outfitters on the former Green Market site, and a new Calvin Klein Underwear shop in the former Kurt Geiger next door.
• Meanwhile, the fabulous Hotel Chocolat in Blackett Street, H&M in Grey Street and Jaeger London in Grainger Street are among the recent arrivals that have helped to improve the retail offer in the southern part of the city centre.
• As far as specialist retail is concerned, the Market Street area seems to have established itself as Newcastle’s ‘outdoor retail’ focus, with the long-established Tiso recently joined by Blacks and the well-regarded independent Start Cycles. Over the road, investments in the Grainger Market also seem to be paying off as a wealth of creative independents – such as the delightful foodie store Mmm… – build on the Market’s fresh-food heritage to create a truly modern and inspiring retail experience.

Eldon Square

Eldon Square extension (16 Feb 2010)

The opening of Eldon Square’s St Andrew’s Way extension eighteen months ago is arguably the impetus for all else that’s currently happening in the city centre, both in terms of freeing up space elsewhere and in prompting other retailers to up their game:

• The Debenhams-anchored St Andrew’s Way is universally impressive, with almost all the retailers there having created modern and innovative frontages, store environments or both. All Saints’ double-height window of sewing machines always catches the eye, while Hollister has given Newcastle an instore experience that is completely on-brand, appeals to all the senses (sight, smell, touch…), and is unlike anything else currently in the city.
• Among the units freed up by those retailers now in St Andrew’s Way, the recently opened Next has transformed the old Arcadia space into a store that is unrecognisable – inside and out – from what it used to be. Elsewhere, Kurt Geiger, Foot Locker and Barratts have all created new, eyecatching stores within the older parts of the shopping centre, replacing their older and smaller shops elsewhere.

That’s my snapshot of some of the current and recent interesting happenings in Newcastle city centre, but do feel free, as always, to add your own highlights using the comments form below!

How the new BHS will look. Image by Dalziel & Pow

Plans for Northumberland Street’s new BHS store have been submitted to Newcastle City Council, and propose a more radical than expected transformation of the former Next building.

Back in March, a notice posted at the old, closed-down BHS stated that the relocated store would be opening “in the autumn”, giving a fairly short 5-6 month window for the Next site to be redeveloped, once vacated in May. On this basis, I’d assumed that BHS would focus its attention on stripping out and rebuilding the store interior, and that the building’s frontage would see little change beyond a new shopfront and signage.

Next, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (now closed) (14 Mar 2011)

In fact, BHS’s plans envisage an entirely new front elevation, replacing the existing dressed stone façade (above) with one comprising full-height glazing and powder-coated aluminium cladding. I’m told by Arcadia Group, however, that the store is still set to open in the “latter part of this year.”

The drawings also reveal that the BHS shopfloor will span four levels – one more than Next occupied – including menswear in the basement, womenswear on the ground floor, lingerie on the first floor, and the BHS Café on the second floor, while the third floor will be used for storage. Homeware and childrenswear are also expected to feature, though their locations within the store are not clear.

Just like the first new-generation BHS store that was unveiled in Uxbridge a year ago, the Newcastle shop is the work of top London-based design consultancy Dalziel & Pow. Last year, Retail Week described Dalziel & Pow as “the low-profile leader of the UK retail design industry”, responsible for “new formats that set the pace on the high street in the UK.” Coincidentally, the company was also behind the design of Next’s new store in Eldon Square.

The boldness of the proposed design will surely divide opinion, and even I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, it will be a shame to lose the existing frontage, given that it’s really quite handsome, and – as I noted last year – is the last remnant of the building that used to occupy the full extent of the site currently occupied by the ex-BHS, ex-Next and Primark (below).

Old postcard of ex-BHS prior to rebuilding, Northumberland Street, Newcastle

On the other hand, Northumberland Street’s lack of a coherent architectural style makes it the only location in Newcastle city centre where ‘glass box’ shops really work. Indeed, there is a long history of older properties in the street being given shiny new frontages, such as the present HMV store (a new skin on the old Callers building), and, only last year, the transformation of the Currys/PC World and Cotswold Outdoor property.

Cotswold, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (14 Mar 2011)

Like those redevelopments before it, BHS’s investment will be a powerful – and very visible – indicator of confidence in the future of Newcastle’s premier shopping street.

Former Next, Northumberland Street (6 Jun 2011)

Whichever argument eventually wins me over, the building certainly loses some of its visual appeal now that the shop windows are empty and the Next signage removed (above).

As I’ve remarked several times before, shopfronts and fascias can hide a multitude of sins beneath, and the removal of Next’s signs has revealed the remains of what appears to be two separate fascias. A photograph on the Newcastle Libraries Flickr stream shows the property in 1975 – some years before Next’s arrival – housing a store called Penberthys, but it’s entirely possible that the space accommodated two separate shops at some point in the past.

Former BHS, Newcastle (6 Jun 2011)

Meanwhile, work seems to be progressing at the ex-BHS site a couple of doors away (above), which is set to be occupied by an extended Primark store. No planning application has been submitted yet, however, so I assume that current works are focusing on stripping out the old BHS interior.

Former BHS, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (14 Mar 2011)

In due course, it will be fascinating to see what Primark proposes for the site, given that the frontages of the ex-BHS and current Primark stores (above) will need, somehow, to be unified.

One thing’s for sure – as one of Northumberland Street’s ugliest buildings, there probably isn’t a property in the street that’s more in need of a refronting. Here’s hoping that Dalziel & Pow – or someone else – will be drafted in to work some magic with glass and aluminium.

John Lewis Tamworth (17 Jun 2011)

Following the confirmation, in April, that John Lewis will indeed be opening one of its ‘At Home’ stores in Tamworth, work on site seems to be proceeding rapidly ahead of the Ventura Park store’s planned autumn opening.

Screens around the site make it difficult to get a good photograph, but when I dropped by earlier today the steel frame looked to be largely in place. Meanwhile, the vast scale of the 42,000 sq ft shop is already apparent, with the premises dominating the main route into the retail park (below).

John Lewis Tamworth (17 Jun 2011)

The Tamworth store will be the fifth John Lewis at Home shop to open since the concept launched, in Poole, in October 2009, and one of two (with Chester) to open this year. Two more stores are scheduled to open in 2012: one in Newbury, and another – announced this week – in Ashford.

However, work on the ‘at Home’ store that was originally announced for Exeter city centre appears to be on hold, with reports that a full-line John Lewis department store is now planned for the site instead. Wednesday’s Ashford announcement cites all the other future openings, yet any mention of the Exeter store is noticeably absent.

Cardinal Point, Tamworth (17 Jun 2011)

Barely 100m from the Tamworth John Lewis, work is also progressing on the separate Cardinal Point retail development, which will house new stores for B&Q, Next and Maplin.

Cardinal Point, Tamworth (17 Jun 2011)

These developments add to a sprawling retail cluster that already includes a large Sainsbury’s, Asda and M&S, as well as more than twenty other retail park staples such as Boots, Outfit, Homebase and Hobbycraft.

Ventura Park stores (17 Jun 2011)

However, the way in which Ventura Park has grown up over the years means that it comprises half a dozen distinct, but adjacent, retail zones, each with its own car park. This, and the distinctly unfriendly pedestrian environment, means that shoppers will often move between two or three different car parks over the course of one visit, adding to the traffic pressures.

Road improvement works at Ventura Park, Tamworth (17 Jun 2011)

I was therefore relieved to see that improvements are being made to Ventura Park’s overburdened road system, which – in a case of very bad planning – also includes the main access route between Tamworth and the A5 dual carriageway.

With the John Lewis and B&Q developments likely to attract even more visitors to what is already one of the Midlands’ busiest retail parks, these improvements surely can’t come soon enough.

New Next, Newcastle (10 May 2011)

I had a quick wander around Newcastle city centre today, where the new Next flagship store is gearing up for its opening at 11am this Thursday (12 May).

Barriers around the outside of the building mean that it’s still quite difficult to get a look inside. However, all the new glazing and signage is now in place, meaning that we can finally get a good idea of how the store will look from the street.

New Next, Newcastle (10 May 2011)

It’s never going to be the most beautiful property, but it’s amazing how much better it looks now that much of the drab brickwork has been nibbled away.

New Next, Newcastle (10 May 2011)

New Next, Newcastle (14 Apr 2011)

Still trading as Topshop (30 Jan 2010)

It’s a shame that something can’t now be done about the toytown architecture of the adjacent Sports Direct store, slotted in over Blackett Street in the early 1990s. However, I was pleased to see today that Sports Direct’s escalator from the street level – directly next to the new Next entrance – was back in action.

Escalator to Sports Direct, Newcastle (10 May 2011)

As far as I’m aware, the escalator has been shuttered and out of use for several years, and reinstating it goes some way to enlivening the dark and unpleasant space where the building sails over the road.

Meanwhile, I understand that Next’s existing store on Northumberland Street closed at the end of trading on Saturday (7 May), with staff reportedly “in until 3am working on moving and setting up between the old and new stores.”

Former Next, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (10 May 2011)

Work will presumably start soon on transforming the site into Newcastle’s ‘new concept’ BHS store, ahead of its planned autumn opening. Meanwhile, boards are now up around BHS’s old site two doors along the street, signalling the beginning of work to extend the adjacent Primark store.

Former BHS, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (10 May 2011)

At the other end of the street, builders have also wasted no time in descending upon the old Collectables store, which closed three weeks ago, and is being taken over by the Swedish hardware retailer Clas Ohlson. Clas Ohlson’s latest news updates are still referring to an opening date of August, which on the face of it sounds quite ambitious. However, the plans show that the store’s existing lift and escalator are being retained, meaning that the main task is installing the new shopfit rather than undertaking any major alterations to the building fabric.

Former Collectables, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (10 May 2011)

As I walked by, I also noticed workmen – and rubble – in the space recently vacated by the Green Market, soon to be occupied by Urban Outfitters. Newcastle city centre is certainly going to have a busy – and exciting – few months ahead.

New Next, Newcastle (14 Apr 2011)

The timescale may have slipped a little from the original April target – which is still being proclaimed by the external hoardings – but I understand that Next is now expecting to open its 55,000 sq ft Newcastle flagship store on or around Thursday 12 May.

I dropped by to check on progress yesterday morning, and the biggest change from my last update in February is the addition of the Next signage to the Blackett Street elevation.

New Next, Newcastle (23 Feb 2011)

New Next, Newcastle (14 Apr 2011)

From the outside, it does still look like there’s quite a lot of work to be wrapped up over the next four weeks. However, the huge lettering means that no-one has any excuse for not being aware that Next is on its way.

Northumberland Street, Newcastle (14 Mar 2011)

I took advantage of today’s gorgeous weather, and the fact that I was in town anyway, to capture some shots of Newcastle’s Northumberland Street before the quite significant changes to its retail tenants get underway next month.

I’m always conscious of taking relatively few photos of Northumberland Street, largely due to a combination of obstructions – lots of people, obviously, but also the pedestrianised street’s tendency to be cluttered up with street furniture, market stalls, delivery vehicles and people digging it up. However, given that at least two current retailers on the street will have moved on by the end of next month, it seemed a timely opportunity to head down there with my camera.

Rereading my piece last week about Clas Ohlson coming to Newcastle, I was aware that, in all the excitement, I’d barely reflected at all upon Collectables’ departure to make way for the Swedish retailer.

Collectables in Northumberland Street, Newcastle (14 Mar 2011)

The property housing the store has quite an interesting history – it was Littlewoods for many years, before being subdivided into H&M, Collectables and WHSmith in 1999, all of which have traded there ever since.

Collectables is something of a North East success story, growing from a single barrow at MetroCentre in 1986 to today’s chain of 12 stores from Castleford to Alnwick selling a wide range of glass, china, handbags, jewellery and kitchenware. However, even before Clas Ohlson’s announcement last week – which, I understand, precipitated Collectables’ own announcement later the same day – there were clues that something was afoot with the Newcastle store.

Collectables newspaper ad, 16 February 2011

A month ago, the store was closed for several days ahead of a £1.1m ‘Bad Weather Clearance Sale’, while stock was transfered in from other branches. This did make me wonder about Collectables’ long-term plans for the site.

Visiting the store today, the clearance basically seems to have evolved into a ‘Closing Down’ sale, with posters confirming the shop’s permanent closure due to the ‘end of lease’, but making reference to its planned relocation to an as-yet-unconfirmed “out-of-town-location”.

The shop was packed when I visited today, with the perennially popular instore restaurant doing a roaring trade. I doubt that Clas Ohlson plans to retain it, but there’s no doubt that the restaurant currently does a great job of bringing people into and through the store.

Echoing the information on Collectables’ website, a staff member confirmed to me that the store is set to close by April 19th, giving Clas Ohlson at least three months to undertake its transformation.

I’m curious to see how Clas Ohlson deals with the narrow street frontage and the need to entice people down the escalator into the basement store. You can achieve a lot with some creativity, colour and bold signage, and all those ingredients will be important here.

Cotswold, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (14 Mar 2011)

A little further along the street, one store that has already had to deal with a narrow street frontage is the recently opened Cotswold Outdoor, which occupies the first and second floors – formerly the Hustler Pool Club and Leo’s Restaurant – above the combined Currys and PC World. Though I blogged about the store during its development last summer, I was aware of not having made any comment since it opened back in October.

The store’s entrance and signage certainly makes bold use of the corporate red, while a mock rockface makes a striking impression upon entry. Once up the escalator, the amount of space over the two sales floors is surprising, immediately making Cotswold the flagship outdoor store in Newcastle. When I last visited, I was particularly impressed by the store’s superb range of walking and travel guides, an area in which many outdoor stores disappoint. Overall, the impression that Cotswold’s Newcastle store gives is of a quality retailer that is an authority in its field. I hope it does well, and I’ll certainly check out the store again in advance of my next walking holiday.

Bank, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (14 Mar 2011)

Another new arrival last October that I hadn’t yet captured in its finished state is Bank, the JD-owned young fashion chain, which I previously photographed in July. The clean, modern shopfront and elegant signage is undoubtedly a vast improvement on the Priceless Shoes store that it replaced.

Next, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (14 Mar 2011)

Further along, another store set to join Collectables in leaving the street next month is Newcastle’s current Next, when it moves into the new, 55,000 sq ft premises in Eldon Square that I last wrote about a fortnight ago. This will give BHS the best part of six months to transform the site ahead of the planned opening of its new store in October.

Former BHS, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (14 Mar 2011)

Meanwhile, the old BHS – which closed its doors last month – had all its logos removed not long after closure and looks to be awaiting its incorporation into the existing Primark store next door. A notice in the former BHS window thanks shoppers for their “custom over the years”, and confirms that “we will open again in Newcastle in the autumn and look forward to welcoming you to our new store.”

Notice at former Newcastle BHS (14 Mar 2011)

Again, it will be interesting to see the extent of any changes to the building’s external appearance as Primark merges BHS’s lower-ground and ground floors with its own existing ground and first floors. Primark’s first floor window was a recent insertion, punched into the blank frontage when it took over the premises from C&A in 2000. Though the symmetry works with Primark’s existing entrance and signage, it will start to look odd when one retailer occupies the entire building.

I hadn’t realised that when Primark acquired its 50,000 sq ft Newcastle site 11 years ago, it was, at the time, the retailer’s largest store. It’s a sign of Primark’s incredible success over the last decade that this store is now considered relatively compact, and will almost double in size once the incorporation of the old BHS site is complete.

Overall, it’s certainly proving a busy time for movements on Northumberland Street, despite research by property consultants Cushman & Wakefield last September suggesting that it was still the seventh most expensive retail thoroughfare in the UK in terms of annual rent per square foot. In the current economic and consumer spending climate, it’s got to be a pretty good vote of confidence to have new tenants lined up for the Collectables, Next and BHS units even before those stores have closed.

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.

New Next, Newcastle (23 Feb 2011)

Work has been underway on Newcastle’s former Arcadia site for the best part of a year, as the space is transformed into a 55,000 sq ft Next store. Like the old Topshop store that it replaces, Next will have a ground-floor street frontage to Blackett Street as well as a first-floor mall entrance to Eldon Square.

The development’s completion is now close, as hoardings around the store reveal an April opening date. As well as the core Next and Next Home offers, the banners confirm that the store will also stock the Next Sport and Lipsy ranges.

Since January last year, I’ve been recording the building’s transformation in photographs, starting with a shot (below) just before Arcadia’s brands relocated to the Eldon Square extension at St Andrew’s Way.

Still trading as Topshop (30 Jan 2010)

By May (below), the Topshop signage had gone and some holes had appeared in the Newgate Street frontage, but most of the work was evidently going on inside.

Site of new Next store in Newcastle (16 May 2010)

However, the most recent views from January (below) and February this year (top) clearly show the addition of the new structure on top of the existing flat roof, which will provide extra floorspace for Next.

The large blank frontage to Newgate Street has also been nibbled away to accommodate four double-height windows – but, as far as I understand, no doors – while the existing openings to Blackett Street have also been enlarged.

Site of new Next, Newcastle (14 Jan 2011)

Reducing the amount of blank brick wall is surely an improvement, and will undoubtedly enhance the building’s appearance.

However, given the store’s prominent corner location, I am a little disappointed that the opportunity for a more radical redevelopment has been missed. Indeed, it’s a particular pity that the street entrance is set to remain around the corner in Blackett Street, instead of a bolder and more imposing entrance being created on the Newgate Street side.

As I’ve made clear before, attracting Next to open one of its largest UK stores can only be a positive thing for Eldon Square and for Newcastle’s status as a top retail destination. As it is, however, the new store’s design means that it is likely to have a very positive effect on footfall on the mall side, but a fairly limited impact as far as enlivening the street is concerned.

Compared, for example, to how Bristol’s Cabot Circus has both fostered street-level activity and improved the appearance of existing buildings incorporated within the scheme, I can’t help feeling that something more creative could have been attempted here too.

John Lewis logo

No, don’t choke on your cornflakes… that’s a serious question.

My interest was piqued last month when the Tamworth Herald ran a story under the headline ”Striking design’ of unit to be built next to Herald offices’, on the town’s ever-growing Ventura Retail Park.

In it, the piece gave a few more details about what the new unit would be like, describing it as “similar in size to [Ventura's] Marks and Spencer, ASDA and Sainsbury’s” and “one of the more dominant outlets on the retail park.” It added that “while no details of which retailer will move into the building have been revealed, the building’s ‘striking’ design was unveiled last month.”

M&S at Ventura Park, Tamworth (24 Dec 2009)

This immediately got me thinking. After all, there aren’t many retailers, besides John Lewis and Best Buy, who are currently opening massive, ‘strikingly’ designed stores on retail parks. B&Q was another possibility, but the same edition of the Herald had revealed that the DIY retailer was already going to be opening a new store behind Sainsbury’s, at nearby Cardinal Point, alongside a new Next and a branch of Maplin.

Publicly available planning applications are often a good source of extra information, but it’s taken me until now to check out the application for the development in question (0648/2010) – which was submitted at the end of November and approved in January. It seems that a development of the size proposed was actually already approved for this site in 2008, so the application was for a ‘variation of conditions’, with revised plans and elevations, rather than an entirely new proposal.

I was curious to see the ‘striking’ design of the building, so took a look at the elevation drawings attached to the application. Here’s a screenshot (click image to view in larger size):

Screenshot of elevation drawings

Hmmm… a large building with lots of double-height glazing, grey cladding and white lettering. Where have I seen that before? Let’s do a Google Image Search for ‘John Lewis at Home’… (again, click to see it a larger size)

Google Image search for 'John Lewis at Home' (16 Feb 2011)

What do you reckon? In the event that the new store isn’t going to be John Lewis, it’s certainly doing its very best to resemble one.

The idea of ‘John Lewis Tamworth’ may sound far-fetched to begin with – after all, the town is not known for attracting more upmarket retailers, and has a town centre that has become increasingly value-focused. However, John Lewis’s new ‘at Home’ format makes the prospect quite plausible.

Largely based on out-of-town retail parks, four such stores have opened to date – in Poole, Croydon, Swindon and Tunbridge Wells – with two more planned for Exeter (on a city centre site that used to be Debenhams) and Chester. Each John Lewis at Home offers the retailer’s full range of  furniture, furnishing accessories, electricals and home technology, though items from other departments – including fashion, beauty and nursery – can be ordered instore for home delivery or next-day collection.

If John Lewis is looking to plug the gap between its Solihull, Leicester and Nottingham stores, Tamworth’s sprawling and bustling Ventura Retail Park – which attracts visitors from all across the Midlands thanks to its strong offer and easy connections to the motorway network – begins to make good sense as a location.

Of course, two other important debates – what the continued expansion of Ventura Retail Park means for local traffic congestion and for Tamworth town centre – must not be neglected, and key to this is making it easier for Ventura visitors to access the town centre’s attractions.

Still, if John Lewis were to open in Tamworth, that would be rather a fantastic coup, wouldn’t it?

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Warrington (27 Dec 2010). Photograph by Beth Anderson

With Woolworths having occupied something like 1,400 UK sites over the years, the chances of any one person having the time (or inclination) to track them all down is pretty slim. So, I’m always pleased when friends and colleagues help me out by snapping the occasional ex-Woolies that they spot while out on their travels. Happily, the M62 corridor provides a convenient thread for linking together the latest three (otherwise fairly unconnected) submissions.

First up, Beth Anderson (from the excellent Newcastle upon Tyne Daily Photo blog) recently sent me some shots of the former Woolworths store in Warrington’s Sankey Street (store #22), which has already had two new occupants since Woolies’ demise.

The premises reopened in December 2009, to much fanfare, as the first in a planned chain of Asco-branded supermarkets, with the new venture’s bosses promising that Asco would offer a “real alternative” to the major grocers. Less than five months later, however, the business had “temporarily closed”, reportedly leaving both suppliers and staff out of pocket.

In May, the newspaper Crains Manchester Business – now itself sadly defunct – reported that Asco Stores Ltd had “been wound up following pressure from creditors”, after “five companies owed a total of £53,620 joined a petition against the company at Liverpool District Registry last week.”

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Warrington (27 Dec 2010). Photograph by Beth Anderson

The site has subsequently been taken over by Poundland, adding to the company’s ever-growing roster of former Woolworths locations. However, unlike many of Poundland’s other ex-Woolies sites – such as those in Scarborough, South Shields or Cannock – the rather beautiful and ornate property was not purpose-built for Woolies, but was constructed, as its datestone testifies, in 1861. The initials ‘RG’ stand for Robert Garnett, the Warrington cabinet maker and local benefactor who built the property as his showroom, and whose impressive but disused Cabinet Works also survive.

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Warrington (27 Dec 2010). Photograph by Beth Anderson

Heading east from Warrington along the M62 brings us to Batley in West Yorkshire, where Seamaster tweeted me this photo of the town’s ex-Woolies store (#472) in Commercial Street.

Former Woolworths (now JBM Bargains), Batley (5 Nov 2010). Photograph by Seamaster

Pictured at Flickr in its former guise, the Woolworths store on the site closed on 2 January 2009, and is now a discount store called JBM Bargains. There seems to be very little information out there about the business, though it appears that the owners also have a branch in nearby Otley that was until recently branded Captain Value. Dating from 1932, the building, of course, is classic Woolies, its wide frontage very similar in composition and materials to the slightly later (1937) store in Berwick upon Tweed.

Former Woolworths (now Boots), Beverley (5 Feb 2011). Photograph by Jon Carling

Final stop, at the far end of the motorway in the East Riding of Yorkshire, is the market town of Beverley, where Jon Carling recently captured this phone pic of the former Woolworths (store #444) at 43-45 Toll Gavel. Again, the building looks every inch an old Woolies, with a frontage that is particularly reminiscent of the Bishop Auckland store.

Since closing as a Woolworths on 2 January 2009, the store has prompted something of a retail reshuffle in Beverley. Boots took over the site in July that year, combining its three previous smaller stores in the town, with Heron Foods relocating in turn to the largest of the former Boots sites at 15-17 Toll Gavel. Meanwhile, the old Heron Foods at 10 Toll Gavel appears to have become an Oxfam Bookshop, and the old Boots Opticians at no. 12 a branch of Vision Express.

Browns' iconic York store (17 Jul 2010)

Though these various movements may not have brought in the big new names, such as Next, that were wished for immediately after Woolies’ demise, it’s impressive that Beverley seems to have such a buoyant and fast-moving retail property market, capped off by the iconic York-based retailer Browns opening a £2m department store in the town last March. With lots of retail activity, and what looks like an attractive and lively historic centre, I think I’d better add Beverley to my list of interesting places to visit.

Meanwhile, do feel free to keep sending in your pictures of former Woolworths! You can email an attachment using the contact form, or send a link to your picture via Twitter to @soult, and I’ll feature as many as I can in future posts.

Closing down sale at BHS Newcastle (14 Jan 2011)

Newcastle’s iconic Northumberland Street is set to see its most dramatic retail shake-up since the departure of C&A and Littlewoods more than a decade ago.

The BHS store is currently holding a closing down sale, and will shut its doors for good in three weeks’ time. The retailer has traded from its present site for decades, apart from a short absence for rebuilding in the early 1970s.

1930s postcard of BHS, Northumberland Street, Newcastle

However, a member of staff told me that BHS will be reopening further along the street in October, taking over the premises that will be vacated by Next when it moves into Eldon Square later this spring. In turn, the staff member revealed that Primark next door is set to expand its existing premises into the space freed up by BHS, doubling the size of its current store.

Current Next - and soon to be BHS - in Northumberland Street, Newcastle (5 Feb 2010)

The news brings to an end speculation about which retailer would move onto the current Next site. Though the premises are smaller than the present BHS, the move means that Newcastle will become one of the first locations to benefit from a modern, new-concept BHS store, as first unveiled at the Chimes shopping centre in Uxbridge in May last year.

Meanwhile, the expansion of the Primark store is further demonstration of the retailer’s continued success both on Tyneside and in the country as a whole, coming just weeks after its plans to open a flagship 60,000 sq ft store at MetroCentre – on the former Woolworths site – were confirmed.

Site of new Next, Newcastle (14 Jan 2011)

Arguably, there’s a slight sense of disappointment that Next’s move isn’t going to see an exciting new retailer moving into Northumberland Street. On the other hand, it can only be a good thing for Newcastle city centre that its BHS, Primark and Next stores will be among the most impressive and up to date in the UK.

Primark fascia

MetroCentre’s empty Woolworths site is poised to get a new occupant, according to the mall’s majority owners, and is set to be trading by the middle of next year.

Capital Shopping Centres’ interim management statement for the period 1 July to 3 November 2010, released last week, reveals that “a major value fashion anchor is close to exchange in the former Woolworths store at MetroCentre, Gateshead, with a target opening of July 2011.”

It continues: “Along with the opening in September [2010] of the first combined TK Maxx/Homesense store [as blogged about here], this would enhance CSC’s anchor store strategy for the centre.”

Former Woolworths at MetroCentre (5 Oct 2009)

The news all but confirms the rumours that Primark is set to relocate from its single-storey Cameron Walk unit – formerly Littlewoods – to the enlarged Woolworths site in Garden Walk. In May, planners approved an application from The MetroCentre Partnership for a 17,405 sq ft extension to the unit, increasing its size, across two floors, to 60,000 sq ft.

This reconfigured unit is similar in size to the upcoming Next store, in the CSC-owned Eldon Square, which the statement also reveals is “on target for a December 2010 handover enabling an Easter 2011 retail opening.”

Assuming that the Primark move is confirmed – and there are few other retailers that would fit the bill of a “major value fashion anchor” – attention will surely turn to who might take over the freed-up Primark site. However, with the expanding Swedish retailer Clas Ohlson already trading or signed up in four of CSC’s 13 shopping centres – and planning to open, in the longer term, up to 200 UK shops – a MetroCentre unit of the right size and configuration could well be on its radar.

Typical Card Factory fascia

Newcastle City Council has recently received a planning application for the “display of internally illuminated fascia sign and non illuminated projecting sign to front elevation” for 55-57 Northumberland Street. The applicant, I understand, is the rapidly expanding greetings card chain Card Factory.

As far as I can tell, no retailer name is mentioned anywhere in the planning application, but a little bit of detective work soon reveals the ‘Applicant Address’ as Card Factory’s head office in Wakefield, and the ‘Applicant Name’ as the firm’s Property Administrator.

Only established in 1997, Card Factory has been one of the quiet retail successes of recent years. Following a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, the business has expanded to 490 stores nationwide, making it the second largest UK greetings card retailer after Clinton Cards.

Clinton Cards store in South Shields (18 Jun 2010)

Of the two, however, Card Factory has enjoyed the recent momentum, delivering year-on-year sales growth of 27% in 2009, and a £29.4m pre-tax profit on a turnover of nearly £168m. Clinton, in contrast, had to turn over £345m – double that of Card Factory – in order to generate a similar pre-tax profit (£24.1m). Just this April, Card Factory’s founders, Dean and Janet Hoyle, enjoyed a “multi-million pound windfall” after selling a £350m majority stake in the company to the London-based private equity firm Charterhouse.

Card Factory's South Shields store (18 Jun 2010)

Card Factory has already become an established presence in the North East, with Tyneside alone having branches in Gateshead, Blaydon, Wallsend, Jarrow, North Shields, South Shields and Whitley Bay. However, Northumberland Street will be the retailer’s first foray into Newcastle, and is certainly a bold choice for a chain that tends to be associated with the value end of the greetings card market.

Site of new Card Factory store in Newcastle (17 Jun 2010)

55-57 Northumberland Street, let’s not forget, is very much at the heart of what has traditionally been Newcastle’s prime retail pitch, sat between the Fenwick department store and the main Eldon Way entrance to Eldon Square. Previously Foot Locker, the unit became vacant as part of the reshuffle of Newcastle city centre retailers that has followed the opening of Eldon Square South. Republic, you’ll recall, kicked things off by moving from its previous store in Douglas Way to a new flagship in St Andrew’s Way, paving the way for Foot Locker to move into the more fashion-focused pitch freed up by Republic.

Northumberland Street entrance to Eldon Square (17 Jun 2010)

I like Card Factory – the prices are reasonable, and the quality and range excellent – and I certainly prefer its lively, unpretentious stores over the strangely soulless experience that I tend to find at Clinton’s. However, news of Card Factory’s planned Newcastle store does reinforce what seems to be Northumberland Street’s shift towards the value end of retail, coming hot on the heels of the new Peacocks store.

Peacocks, Monument Mall, Newcastle (11 Jun 2010)

To some extent, of course, this is merely a reflection of those retailers that are currently doing well and looking to expand. On the other hand, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to imagine top-end names opening up on Northumberland Street. When toy retailer Hamleys had its ill-fated foray into the provinces in the 1980s, it seemed natural for its Newcastle store to open up in Northumberland Street (in the premises now occupied by HMV). If it were doing the same today, you’d have to imagine it heading straight for St Andrew’s Way, and a berth among Apple Store, Guess, Hollister and All Saints.

The tide could yet, of course, shift back in Northumberland Street’s favour. The JD-owned branded fashion chain Bank is set to open in the nearby Priceless Shoes unit, and will surely be an improvement on the increasingly unappealing and tacky-looking store that’s there now. 

Next, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (5 Feb 2010)

The big test, however, will be on what occupies the unit that Next will leave empty when it moves into its new Eldon Square flagship. Received wisdom seems to be that the site represents the perfect opportunity for Zara to make a return to Northumberland Street, after its short-lived stint – in a unit that was too small for it – a few years ago.

In my view, Zara’s the kind of midmarket but well regarded retailer that Northumberland Street needs to attract if its to hang on to its status as Newcastle’s premier shopping thoroughfare. With Next due to move out early in 2011, it may not be very long before we know the answer.

Former Woolworths, Peterlee (12 March 2010)

Only counting the (33) North East Woolworths stores that closed down following the company’s 2008 administration, my quest to photograph the full set is nearing completion – with five more new ones featured in this post, only Berwick, Billingham and Stockton’s Portrack Lane are left to get.

However, the ever-expanding list of stores that had already closed down in previous years – currently standing at 17, of which 7 have been photographed – means that I’ll be kept busy touring the North East’s towns and suburbs for a little while yet.

First up, however, are a couple of revisits, with the old Gateshead Woolies store (#154) still determinedly empty.

Former Woolworths, Gateshead (12 March 2010)

Better news in Chester-le-Street though, where the old Woolies (store #267) had been taken over by B&M Bargains since my previous visit a couple of months earlier.

Former Woolworths (now B&M Bargains), Chester-le-Street (12 March 2010)

The first new stop is Stanley in County Durham, where Store Twenty One has done a good job of turning the old Woolies shop in Front Street (store #873) into a bright and appealing fashion and homewares store.

Former Woolworths (now Store Twenty One), Stanley (12 April 2010)

Less impressive is the company’s website - firstly for not having the Stanley shop listed in its store locator, and secondly for having the phrase “cheap clothes” within its title tags. To me, the words “cheap clothes” conjure up an unpleasant – and probably unfair – image of the retailer’s range being 100% driven by price at the expense of fashion. Indeed, using such language surely undermines the more effective “fashionably affordable” tagline that is used elsewhere on the site. Hopefully these issues will be addressed when the promised new site launches later this month.

Staying in County Durham, the 5,000 sq ft former Woolworths in Peterlee’s Yoden Way (store #987) was still empty when I visited in March, and as far as I know remains that way.

Former Woolworths, Peterlee (12 March 2010)

Though hardly the most beautiful building, that row of shops holds some historic significance as the first part of Peterlee new town to be built. The Francis Frith website features a rather quirky shot of the Yoden Way shops  surrounded by empty space – certainly a contrast to today’s busy and built up shopping centre. The Woolworths shop is easily recognisable in the old photograph by its distinctive, pale façade.

Former Woolworths, Newton Aycliffe (12 March 2010)

Down the road in Newton Aycliffe, we have another new town, another empty Woolies (store #1007), and another property that wouldn’t win any prizes for its looks.

On to Darlington next, where the formerWoolworths at 12-18 Northgate (store #28) was in the midst of building work to turn it into a new branch of Next. I understand that the Next store is not open yet, but is due to be finished later in the summer.

Former Woolworths, Darlington (12 March 2010)

Cornmill entrance to former Woolworths, Darlington (12 March 2010)

Finally to Spennymoor, and the old Woolies there (store #278) is one of many nationwide that has been taken over by The Original Factory Shop, the self-styled “low-price local department store”.

Former Woolworths (now The Original Factory Shop), Spennymoor (12 March 2010)

The chain has a policy of opening in smaller towns with limited non-food competition, and this is reflected in its choice of North East locations to date – among them Ashington, Crook, Prudhoe, Shildon and Stanley.

Interestingly, The Original Factory Shop’s own website indicates that a new store will be ‘opening soon’ in Morpeth, in Northumberland – I can’t find any further details yet, but presume that it will be in the former M&S Simply Food unit, vacated last year following the opening of a full M&S store in the new Sanderson Arcade.

No missing the fact that Peacocks is coming... (20 May 2010)

The opening of St Andrew’s Way back in February – and Hollister, belatedly, in April – may have been this year’s biggest retail events in Newcastle, but, three months on, there continue to be interesting and significant developments in fashion retail elsewhere in the city centre.

At Monument Mall, work is now well underway on the new Peacocks store, occupying the three-storey, 17,000 sq ft unit that formerly housed Zavvi, the Virgin Megastore, and before that Woolworths.

You can’t see anything happening inside from the ground floor of the Mall, or from Northumberland Street, as both frontages are boarded off. Rather, one of the most noticable things is that the Mall smells different to usual – of paint and wood, rather than Millies Cookies!

Northumberland Street frontage of new Peacocks store (20 May 2010)

However, go up or down a level and you can see right into the shop – shiny white tiled floors, escalators and stairs are all visible, with work looking well progressed ahead of the reported opening on 1 July. I’d have taken some pictures closer up, but there will still men in there working at 5:30, and I didn’t fancy being accosted for taking illicit snaps…

New Peacocks store from basement level of Monument Mall (20 May 2010)

Across town on the corner of Newgate Street and Blackett Street, work has also started on redeveloping the recently vacated Arcadia space into a new Next store, which – at 55,000 sq ft – will be one of the fashion retailer’s largest stores in Britain when it opens early in 2011.

Site of new Next store in Newcastle (16 May 2010)

...and the same view back in January

Again, there’s not a great deal to see yet, but the Topman and Topshop signs have been taken down, the site screened off, and some mysterious holes punched into the brick façade facing Newgate Street.

As far as I’m aware, there’s no further news on which retailer might replace Next’s current shop on Northumberland Street, but there’s still plenty of time for details to emerge. One sure thing is that we’re likely to be seeing Newcastle’s fashion retailers playing musical shops for some time yet, as new units are carved out and existing ones freed up.

Debenhams, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010). Photograph by Peter (aka 'Newcastle Historian')

I might have been busy at work at 10:30 a.m this morning, but many thousands of others evidently weren’t, judging from the crowds that attended the grand opening of St Andrew’s Way! Such was the excitement, Eldon Square was once again a trending topic on Twitter for much of today, while even the editor of industry bible Retail Week was there to see things first hand.

New Look, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010)

Debenhams, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010)

By the time I popped in to the new mall just after 5, things had calmed down somewhat, but there were still plenty of people having a good look around. I was able to get some better photos of the street frontages (using a proper camera this time), but thought better of getting any interior shots, given how many police officers were wandering about. However, Peter – aka ‘Newcastle Historian’ from the SkyscraperCity forums – has kindly let me plunder some of his own pics from inside the mall.

St Andrew's Way, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010). Photograph by Peter (aka 'Newcastle Historian')

Clayton Street frontage, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010)

First impressions are really positive – the inside of the mall is wide and bright, and the double height means that most of the retailers have created truly dramatic frontages. Debenhams’ looks great, Republic’s is as impressive as promised, and Apple’s is the bold statement that you would expect.

Best of the lot though must be Hollister. The store’s not yet open (and won’t be until April, apparently), but its shopfront is pure MetroCentre Mediterranean Village, circa 1986 – striking, kitschy, but totally on brand. It does mean that with most of the shop frontages being so flamboyant, Schuh’s – which would look very nice anywhere else – feels rather tame.

Apple Store, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010). Photograph by Peter (aka 'Newcastle Historian')

Debenhams, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010)

Tesco Metro, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010)

Clayton Street frontage to Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010)

Poundland, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010)

As I’ve remarked before, a successful Tesco store probably does not bode well for the nearby Co-op food hall. However, there can surely be no better opportunity than now for the whole of the former Co-op department store building to be brought back into use. Just looking at all the people busying around in Newgate Street this evening, it really is now a great pitch, directly opposite Debenhams. If Harvey Nichols ever made up its mind to come to Newcastle, it need surely look no further for a stunning landmark property in a fantastic, prime location.

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

I also had a look around the older parts of Eldon Square, where there are now various voids from retailers moving into the new part of the shopping centre. However, these vacated units have all been screened off already – complete with ‘exciting new retailer coming soon’ banners – so merely look blank and dark rather than obviously empty. On the other hand, the existing Poundland in the old post office premises and the current All Saints in Market Street were both still happily trading when I walked past this evening, suggesting that those stores will be retained alongside their brand new Eldon Square siblings.

All Saints, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010). Photograph by Peter (aka 'Newcastle Historian')

I read this morning that five of the six now-empty sites in Eldon Square have new occupants lined up, which is very good news if true. Certainly, the banner at the former Arcadia site promises a ‘new flagship retailer’ soon – almost certainly Next. Meanwhile, at least part of the site of the former Republic store is going to be Foot Locker, presumably moving from its existing Northumberland Street site. So, tick this off as yet another seemingly un-Woolies-related blog post that in fact has a faintly obscure Woolworths link…