Shoppers go West as Manor centre continues to thrive
MANAGEMENT at Tralee’s Manor West Retail Park say 2011 has proved to be an extremely successful year for the centre and, while challenges lie ahead, the centre is confident of a positive 2012.
The centre now employs over 800 people and attracts over 90,000 shoppers weekly.
Manor West has had an extremely busy Christmas with over eight to ten thousand cars in the car park recorded most days.
To cope with this there were 10 traffic management staff on duty at peak times and no traffic issues were reported throughout the holiday season.
Centre manager Derek Rusk said that while the retail sector has not been easy, the past few years hard work and a customer focused ethos has seen Manor West thrive.
“We are in the lucky position that we have direct access to the owners who proactively work with the management team to ensure the continued success of the Centre.
“At Manor West, for example, we have the lowest service charge rate in the country and we intend to maintain this in what will be another challenging year for retail,” he said.
“Feedback from our retailers has been good, but like everyone out there, there is much anxiety about the future and with more and more austerity measures being introduced, shoppers have less to spend,” said Derek Rusk
Mr Rusk said that while 2012 will present challenges, Manor West is ready to meet them head on.
“2012 for us — and I believe for everyone in business — must be about managing overheads and exceeding customer expectations so they will return time and again. Despite the difficult trading conditions, the key to survival for Retail is to maintain or enhance a flexible positive approach by providing shoppers with a positive retail experience while also giving them true value for money,” he said.
Another big success for the Centre has been the use of social media in particular Facebook and a new look website.
“Over the past few months Facebook has been a really effective way to communicate to our shoppers. As well as outlining store opening times, details of the sales and special offers that are currently on, we also post local news and useful information and as a result, have seen our fan numbers grow on Facebook to nearly 6,000,” said Derek Rusk.
“It’s always challenging but we have a really great proposition here at Manor.”