Seafront attraction is stacking them up after hitting 700k visitors
It’s been one of the seafront’s biggest success stories – and now all the units at Stack Seaburn have been filled.
Stack opened on the site of the former Seaburn Centre in September 2020 and is now celebrating being fully let and creating more than 200 jobs.
Despite opening during the pandemic, the shipping container village has become a huge hit with its mix of street food offerings, lifestyle businesses and entertainment, withmorethan700,000people having visited in the first year – with much of that being with limited capacity due to Covid restrictions.
And now all of its 12 units have been filled by independent businesses, following a carefully curated procedure to ensure that the right mix of traders took up residence.
Gemma Dishman, marketingandspecialprojectsmanager for the Danieli Group which owns Stack, said the emphasis has always been on attracting the right kind of operators to the venue, which holds 600 people with restrictions and 2,000 without.
“Itwasveryimportanttous fromtheoutsetthatweattracted businesses for the external units that would not offer traditional retail products which are, increasingly being purchased online,” said Gemma.
“Our focus has been on recruiting lifestyle businesses such as the barbershop and brow bar, or Woofs N Scruffs who complement their traditional retail offer of dog supplies with dog grooming and self-serve dog baths.”
Gemma added that food has always been at the heart of the operation, with Sunderland now boasting everything from Greek gyros to brownies, to up-market kebabs provided by former MasterChef The Professionals contestant, Matei Baran.
Thecontainervillagehasalsogivennewbusinessesastart, notably19-year-oldLauraBenson who has opened the brow bar, Arch.
“The small units and low rent at Stack have made this all possible,” said Laura.
“I have received so much support from the Stack team includingmarketingandbusiness
start-up advice.
"This gave me the confidence to make my business idea a reality and I now have a regularclientbasethatcontinues to grow.”
Danieli Group CEO, Neil Winch, said he was delighted with the success at Sunderland, particularly the boost thatthedevelopmenthadgiven
to the local economy.
“Stack is a hub where independent businesses can prosper and we do everything we can to drive footfall to the venue to ensure they all have the opportunity for success,” he said.
“We spend over £20k a month on free entertainment for our customers to keep bringing them back time and time again.
"We also support the traders with marketing through our social media channels, emailers and our big screens to help raise their profile.”
Next year is due to mark the start of phase 2 of the shippingcontainervillage.Thenext phasewillseemorecontainers being installed at the rear of the first phase. Instead of independent shops, it will have larger containers for events, functions and experiences.
Itallformspartofthewider seafront regeneration scheme aimed at improving Roker and SeaburnforWearsiders,while alsoattractingpeoplefromoutside of the area.