New St James Quarter to open in June
Edinburgh’s St James Quarter is set to open later this year following five years of construction and has officially announced that it will welcome its first visitors into the galleria from Thursday, June 24.
The opening has been carefully planned to fit in with the wider plans for a safe reopening of the city, with St James Quarter designed to provide a safe, convenient, and fun environment for shoppers.
It includes natural ventilation throughout, easily accessible public routes and connectivity from surrounding streets, covered car parking and an integrated plan with the city’s events programme.
Martin Perry, director of development at St James Quarter, said that Covid-19 restrictions had impacted the opening date. “The latter part of June is when it is indicated that measures will be expected to be relaxed,” he said, “It's the day before the schools break up for the summer and it seems the nearest most logical dates that we can work with.”
The phase one opening lineup of one of the most significant UK city centre transformations undertaken in the last few years will bring together brands from global to local, combining convenience and luxury with an offering that includes; Zara, Mango, Pull & Bear, Rituals, H&M, Kurt Geiger, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, as well as Dune, Bross Bagels and Salerno Pizza, ensuring there is something for everyone to enjoy.mr Perry added: “On June 24, people are still going to be cautious. The galleria itself is naturally ventilated, the roof floats over the top of it so you're still breathing outside air, it's not artificially treated or pushed through in any shape or form.
“The retailers and restaurants
will have distancing measures in place themselves.”
In advance of the launch, John Lewis will also reopen on May 14, following a multi million-pound refurbishment.
Mr Perry added: “We are delighted and actually quite surprised about what we have achieved during Covid in getting the scheme where we are at the moment.
Nick Peel, managing director
of St James Quarter said: “While we won’t have the usual fanfare on June 24 and it will be more of a soft launch, we make no apologies for that.”