Victoria Centre thriving again after lockdown
NINE NEW SHOPS, AND MORE ARE ON THE WAY IN 2022
THE boss of the Victoria Centre said it has survived the worst periods of the pandemic so far and come out the other side.
Centre director Nigel Wheatley said it is recovering well after only a handful of essential shops were allowed to open ithere at the start of the year, including Tesco and Boots.
With those two shops at different ends of the centre, it meant the centre itself had to stay open, even though hardly any were allowed to trade.
Now, nine new retailers have already been announced, with more brands set to open in the centre in 2022.
Mr Wheatley said: “When the news of the first lockdown came, it was painful, it was scary, it was nerve-wracking – lockdown really did put a lot of pressure on people, particularly when we were trying to unpick things like what are essential retailers.
“I’ve got to be honest, it wasn’t the highlight of my life walking through the shopping centre on a Wednesday morning with no lights on.
“You begin to get concerned that the world that you know is changing, but I felt the same way walking around the city, which almost felt like a wasteland.
“The stop-start of returning gave us a little bit of a false dawn but, of course, protecting people is the most important thing.”
But once the Victoria Centre was able to fully reopen and shops, restaurants and coffee shops among others were able to resume trading, Mr Wheatley said careful consideration was given on how to keep shoppers safe.
He said: “Our job in there was to decide what we could do to make sure how we limit the issues, such as stepping up cleaning regimes, putting things like one-way systems in closing the toilets every hour for cleaning.
“We took heed of the advice that we were given and probably ended up going a little bit further, as did all the retailers.
“Since reopening, it was brilliant to have those people back in across those first few days, and what’s really weird is that you quickly fall back into normality.
“The car park is busy, the shops are busy, the toilets are busy – but what has changed is the ‘dwell time’ of people has definitely increased. “People want to have a coffee with their mate, go and get some lunch rather than thinking ‘I could sit at home’; people want to go out because people want that sense of normality.”
And now with new retailers confirmed and more set to be teased in the New Year, Mr Wheatley thinks 2022 will be an exciting year for the centre. He said: “We’re always looking to evolve and are always in conversations to bring new brands into the centre and there will be more brands in 2022 and beyond, definitely.
“One of the challenges we have is creating space, as we don’t have a lot of space to create things.
“But I can guarantee you that there are some very good conversations taking place with retailers to bring even more new brands in with that size and space.
“Nothing has been signed yet but we’re way down the road of having that exploratory conversation to bring new brands in that suit this centre.”
The nine new retailers and prospect of more has been welcomed by shoppers.
What has changed is the ‘dwell time’ of people has definitely increased
Nigel Wheatley