Empty feeling lingers over retail parks after closures of big names
IF YOU go to Parc Fforestfach or West Swansea Retail Park you will be met with queues of cars and swarms of people, with shoppers keen to visit popular retailers such as Homesense, Dunelm, New Look and many more.
Both retail parks still have much to offer, but like many towns and retail parks up and down the country they are also facing tough times – and unfortunately a significant number of shops there have since closed their doors.
Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and online shopping, both big-name brands and independent ventures have all had to face harsh realities, with some making the tough, often devastating decision to shut, leaving behind empty units.
Parc Fforestfach opened in August 2002. The site covers 10.5 acres and has 130,000 sq ft of retail floor space. There are 14 units – nine are now taken and the others are empty.
Parc Fforestfach, after Parc Tawe, was Swansea’s first real out-of-town shopping centre and it soon attracted thousands of shoppers.
Opposite Parc Fforestfach stands West Swansea Retatil Park, formerly known as Pontarddulais Road Retail Park. It has been there since the 1980s but underwent massive refurbishment and saw new units open around 2004.
Many shops have come and gone since the parks opened but there have rarely been any empty units as brandnew stores have always moved in straight away. However, that seems to have changed now.
As a result, 10 of the household name retailers in Fforestfach and West Swansea retail parks have had to close their doors, leaving empty units behind.
Fforestfach Retail Park Marks & Spencer Marks & Spencer closed its store in March 2018. The store originally opened in 2004 and employed 52 staff who were all were offered alternative employment at other M&S stores in the area. There is no proposed plans on who will fill the empty unit. Clarks Many Clarks stores have closed their doors. The Telegraph reports that the company’s executive chairman and CEO Victor Herrero has been tasked with creating a plan to steer the British footwear retailer out of the pandemic, which will likely begin with store closures.
As well as the closure of the Fforesfach outlet, it has also closed its store in the Quadrant too.
Speaking at the time, a spokeswoman from Clarks said: “At Clarks, we regularly review our store portfolio to ensure each of our stores meets our customers’ needs
as well as our business requirements.” H&M H&M closed its doors here in September 2020. The retailer announced plans to ramp up the pace of store closures in 2020 as it shifts focus to its online business to reflect changing consumer shopping habits in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2020 a spokeswoman said: “H&M Wrexham and H&M Fforestfach will close on September 13, 2020.
“At H&M we continuously review our store portfolio. The decision to close these particular stores was part of the long-term strategy to ensure we are offering our customers the best possible shopping experience in the right locations. We have no further store closures to announce at present.” DW Sports Fitness In June 2020, DW Sports Fitness announced that 25 retail stores would be closing down as a result of the Covid19 pandemic and lockdown. On August 3, 2020 it announced that it was to enter administration, with all stores eventually closing, and that it was working with the administrators to save some of the gyms from closure. O2 and Greggs Ever-popular bakery Greggs and phone shop O2 once held their stores in this empty unit. Given Greggs’ continued popularity, it was perhaps strange to see the food firm shut down one of its outlets. And O2’s parent company Telefonica has also seem its revenues rise in recent years – so unlike other firms that have left, the closure has nothing to do with their owners being in financial trouble. However, with this unit being away from the “main block” of shops, it could just be a simple footfall issue that prompted both companies to cut their losses . Carphone Warehouse In March 2020, just days before the first nationwide Covid-19 lockdown, it was announced that all 531 Carphone Warehouse stores would close. The UK store closures resulted in 2900 job losses. ■ West Swansea Retail Park Argos Since the acquisition of Argos by Sainsbury’s, an increasing number of standalone Argos stores have been moved into Sainsbury’s supermarkets. On September 25, 2019 Sainsbury’s announced that over 50 Argos stores would be closing or relocating in order to cut costs. Among those also biting the dust was the Argos store in Swansea city centre. Laura Ashley In March 2020 Laura Ashely announced it was filing for administration after rescue talks were thwarted by the Covid-19 outbreak. The company reopened stores across Wales in June 2020 to begin its closing-down sale. Carpetright Carpetright closed its stores in 2018 due to the general cost of running the business going up. Another key factor included more consumers choosing to shop online rather than in-store.