Discount UK (former Woolworths), Middlesbrough (4 May 2011)

Down on Teesside last week, I’d only really planned to have a quick look around Middlesbrough while waiting for my connecting bus to Redcar. However, I was startled to notice that the ex-Woolies (and ex-Waremart) unit in the town’s Hillstreet shopping centre had acquired a new occupant – a variety store called Discount UK – which has apparently been open since 23 April.

Regular readers will recall that when I first visited Middlesbrough in September 2009, the large ex-Woolworths site (store #1200) was occupied, on a short-term lease, by a discount variety retailer, Waremart.

The same unit in use as Waremart (17 Sep 2009)

However, by January 2010 Waremart had gone, with the unit remaining empty throughout last year.

Former Woolworths and Waremart, Middlesbrough (28 Jun 2010)

I’d never come across Discount UK before seeing it in Middlesbrough, but it seems that it’s a new multi-price fascia from Poundworld – a way, self-evidently, of allowing the single-price retailer to sell products costing more than £1, and to therefore increase the average basket size. To date, Poundworld has acquired several ex-Woolies locations for its eponymous stores, including the West Ealing branch that I visited back in November.

Poundworld store, West Ealing (24 Nov 2010)

There’s no information on store locations on Discount UK’s website holding page, but from what I can gather there are also stores in Leeds and Stevenage, with another dozen planned for 2011. The Stevenage store, opened in January this year, is apparently housed in premises that had been empty since Littlewoods left in 2005.

Screenshot of DiscountUK website (8 May 2011)

Retail Week’s article about Discount UK quotes the chain’s boss describing it as an “up-to-date Woolies, with a vibrant look and more choice and value”, and based on my visit to the Middlesbrough store it’s hard to argue with that assessment. Where Waremart was essentially camping out in a space that still looked and felt like a Woolworths, Discount UK has completely transformed it, the palette of black, white and pink giving the store a much smarter and more upmarket feel than its value competitors, such as B&M Bargains or Family Bargains (99p Stores’ own take on the multi-price format), or indeed Poundworld’s eponymous stores.

Discount UK flyer (from Hillstreet website)

Discount UK seems like a strong addition to the Primark-anchored retail offer at Hillstreet, and was certainly busy with shoppers when I visited last Wednesday morning. It’s also a great solution to the question of what to do with Middlesbrough’s old Woolworths, given that virtually all the other takers of large ex-Woolies sites – such as Peacocks, New Look, TK Maxx, TJ Hughes, Poundland, Next and Wilkinson – were represented in the town already.

Back of Hillstreet - minus its Woolies sign (4 May 2011)

...and with the sign still in place six months ago (16 Nov 2010)

One positive side-effect of the chain’s arrival is that the Woolworths sign at the rear of the store – present throughout Waremart’s stay – has finally been taken down, reinforcing the sense that Discount UK has invested in Middlesbrough for the long term.

I hope the store does well, and encourages the chain to consider further North East sites. In Discount UK, it could be that we’ve finally found the perfect candidate for the still-vacant ex-Woolies in Newcastle city centre: a business whose presence would greatly improve the appearance of that part of Clayton Street, while still being a great fit with – and footfall driver for – the street’s value credentials.

If it comes off, don’t forget that you heard it here first…

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.