With forward thinking, tragedy might be turned into advantage

The Bank Buildings at Castle Junction has long been a landmark location in Belfast. For many decades it served as a central meeting point and a complementary addition to the wide range of diverse retail outlets in the same convenient location.

For the immediate future, loss of Primark means that central Belfast is coping with displaced retail spending worth tens of millions of pounds, possibly at a rate of near to £50m in the next year.

The damage will be more than the displaced turnover at the Bank Buildings.

Some of the shopping expenditure will be deflected to competitors but, in total, the loss of this Primark outlet will have wider negative effects as shopping in central Belfast loses some of its appeal.

The short-term impact will more likely be to shift some spending away from central Belfast to the suburban supermarkets and specialist providers in the wider commuting region from Bangor to Lisburn and Newtownabbey.

Belfast is already vulnerable to changing retail patterns. The city centre has lost a number of major stores as business moves to more customer-friendly locations.

It is also losing out to the growing proportion of discretionary retail spending that is going online for an expanding range of personal and household needs.

For the longer-term Primark have both a need, and the opportunity, for a critical investment decision.

No-one would have wished for the tragic and expensive loss of an historic institution. However, the choice is now unavoidable. The shareholders in Primark must consider how to deliver on their own best interests.

Simply to repair, replace and offer little change in the continuity of retail services might be superficially attractive. Investment in new assets, new services and in changing locations will logically be on the agenda.

Future decisions for Primark, for Royal Exchange, for CastleCourt and the evolution of Victoria Square centre are now inter-twined with the sensible application of the city’s Belfast Agenda.

Retailing, leisure facilities, traffic management and improved civic amenities offer complex opportunities for far-sighted city government.

Adversity might then be turned to advantage.