Queen Street was once the jewel of Cardiff’s shopping crown, bristling with high street giants like BHS and C&A.
But now questions are being asked about the current state of the landmark street, after a raft of recent changes.
From the “glory days” when Littlewoods, Woolworths, Laura Ashley and Gap drew in the crowds, Queen Street is soon set to gain its fourth Starbucks and lose its Waitrose food store.
A retail expert has said it’s now time for the area to be “rejuvenated”, following the successful makeover of the area around the St David’s shopping centre over the past decade.
Over the space of a single generation, Queen Street has seen:
- Major retailers Woolworths, Littlewoods and C&A all close their doors ;
- Laura Ashley make way for a Poundland while Monsoon was replaced first by a phone shop and then a surplus catalogue store;
- Dorothy Perkins merge into a smaller premises with brother-brand Burtons;
- Gap move into St David’s shopping centre with Benetton leaving altogether;
- Waitrose announce it will close its store;
- A former Santander outlet lying empty for years until Starbucks announced it would open its fourth branch on the street; and
- Bar and restaurant Base and Barley closing last November – it remains empty.
The street now has a number of empty shops and discount retailers, in an echo of similar concerns recently raised about Queen Street’s Capitol Centre .
Dr Eleri Rosier, a senior lecturer in marketing at Cardiff Business School, said the number of vacant units and short-lived discount shops on Queen Street was a symptom of high rental costs.
She said: “They move in to quickly make their money and then leave.
“If we look at the statistics, we have lots of empty units that can be really off-putting. Obviously seeing everything closed isn’t the most attractive.”
Other UK cities have experienced similar issues – after high street retailers like Woolworths and BHS shut their doors, huge, prime stores were empty.
A study by Deloitte found that one fifth of these stores – empty after administration – have been let to discount or surplus retailers.
Poundland, for example, has acquired more shops from administration than Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons combined.
The study also found that in Wales it takes an average of 14.6 months to reoccupy a vacant shop.
When it comes to Queen Street, many of the discount or surplus shops appear for a few months and then disappear.
Dr Rosier added: “Unfortunately for Queen Street, shoppers are going to St David’s and the regenerated area.
“We’re moving into a new era of shopping called ‘en route’ shopping.”
It means shopping centres and outlets – competing against the rise of online shopping – are allowing people to collect those parcels in their stores and offering 24 hour lockers for people to collect items on their way to, or from, work.
The hope for retailers is that by getting people into the shops or shopping centre they will not only want to pick up their parcel, but other items too.
“Queen Street is very well placed for this because it’s a space between your destination shopping of St David’s and a city railway station and the library. But you also have a lot of offices in the civic centre and staff who travel down Queen Street.
“We need to look at an en-route model where we get a mix of mobile shopping with actual item shopping”.
Businesses of all sizes need to be supported, she said.
Shoppers want a mix of independents, charity shops and cafes but high streets now need to be much more than just shopping.
“We’re never going to get back to what shopping was like in the ‘70s. Partly because consumers now have less disposable income.
“Queen Street is much more of a civic space rather than a private retail space. Having it as a shared space means people will come together there, not just for shopping but a creative mix of activity.”
Coming off the back of a booming night-time economy, night markets – which include food stalls and market stalls – are one option Dr Rosier suggests.
'We need to rejuvenate'
“They are really up and coming in other places and they bring both businesses and the social aspect people want together”.
But it isn’t down to just one group. A number of agencies, from the newly-formed Business Improvement District to the council and government all need to come together with consumers. And, despite the economic climate, they need to be brave.
“If you’re looking at a brand new model it needs to be a multi-agency approach. If you’re going to maximise social and market space, and gym with retail, then it can’t just be from one avenue, it needs to be lots of different agencies investing together.
“Cardiff has been brave before. We have revived the whole area around St David’s. It’s a great area for destination shopping and there is a library at the heart of that. But something else needs to help rejuvenate Queen Street into something different and give it some added value for consumers.
“We already have a great place for retail but we can turn Queen Street into something else.”
But despite the number of vacant unit and “pop-up” shops, the street continues to boast a number of flagship city centre stores including Marks and Spencer, Primark, Boots, HMV and Matalan as well as popular branches of WH Smith and Sainburys.
Meanwhile, a Business Improvement District (BID) was started in Cardiff last year, aiming to boost the city centre area.
Businesses pay a levy and put forward ideas for what that money should be spent on to help businesses.
'Cardiff is no different'
Adrian Field, Executive Director, Cardiff BID, said: “Cities are constantly changing and evolving and Cardiff is no different.
“Although it is early days for the Cardiff BID we have already engaged with traders throughout the city to better understand how and where they would like to see their BID funding invested.
“As part of this we have spoken to staff who work on Queen Street about how to implement the projects in our five year Business Plan and we want to ensure that Cardiff works proactively in staying one step ahead of what is an ever changing environment.
“It is our intention to collaborate with businesses on projects such as upgrading the broadband and improving city centre parking. We believe that these initiatives will be wide ranging, benefitting all city centre businesses and improving visitor experience.
“While our ambitious plans are for the city centre as a whole, Queen Street stands to benefit from our plans and we hope that the BID will have a positive impact on all the areas covered by our remit.”
What do you think would bring Queen Street back to life? Have your say in the comments below
