You'll no doubt be aware that most of (all?) the shops - and the shonk hotel - funnel all their takings out of the city????
Sure thing, OLM - but my point is that it hasn't 'boosted the local economy'. It's all 'fur coat and no knickers'....
St Stephens is occupied by large multiples whose profits go out of town daily either electronically or in security vans up the M62. Local businesses are more likely to spend profits locally and keep the local economy topped up instead of drained. The multiples also cause many of our small local shops to close and worse (like Starbucks) avoid paying taxes. In my opinion, they grow like ivy and strangle the life out of local trade.
But the fact its there and attracting business' which we may not have done beforehand, is surely a good thing on its own
I wonder if St Stephens has brought any money in since it looks to me like it was the same money but spent there instead, hence the state of Hessle, Holderness, Anlaby and Beverley Roads with so many empty shops and the rest fast food, charity shops and 'amusements'.
I'm all for supporting independent traders, but for the sake of debate - the retailers in St.Stephen's don't just take money out of the local area, they are chain stores that bring more jobs to the city, can usually offer higher wages than independents can and often employ more staff than independent retailers do. All money going into the pockets of local people, who in turn spend that in their local pubs, restaurants etc... Not to mention it acts as an anchor to attract more people into the city centre, who in turn also spend money in independents as well as those chain stores. If the chains people know and want to shop in weren't there, people would just travel to somewhere else that does have them, meaning the independents don't even have the opportunity to attract their custom. Sad, but true.
But at the same time, the likes of Size?, Prem, Bronx Menswear, Vanilla, Stan's Bar, Stanley's Brasserie and Something Special wedding shop, amongst others, have all opened on the back of trying to capitalise on the location of St.Stephen's. The retail spend in Hull was higher than it was in York last year, I doubt it would have been without St.Stephen's.
Exactly right, if Hull didn't have the likes of Zara, H&M etc and people wanted to shop in those stores, they would just go shopping in York or Leeds instead(as they have done in the past), the better the facilities in Hull, the more people use the facilities in Hull, the better Hull will do.
Did we not have those shops in Hull before St Stephens? I remember when it first opened going in and as I was walking down just thinking everywhere seemed to have moved there from elsewhere in town. Course at that stage there was still about a 1/3 vacancy rate in there as well.
Yep, it's a choice between convenience, having all the good stuff in a small area at the detriment to the rest or staying more devolved like york and beverley. The last fact surprised me, was it per capita or just total spend?
this whole area was in decline when it was roughly the centre of Hulls shopping district (by foot - and pre Prinny Quay) - this was when everything from the Bus , Train station and ferensway carparks was Eastwards . Now we have St Stephens the central axis will have shifted westwards much further (just look at Whitefriagate & King Edward St ) . Something needs to happen that isnt about shopping , but about a day out , an experience . . . Every man and his dog is naturally attracted to water and we are bound by the Humber n the River Hull yet the council just dont utilise the areas properly . Castle St has probably made saving the Fruit market area a stretch too far for daily visitors and enquiring minds , but its a crying shame as its a literal stones throw from Marina & the Deep . Why is our City allowed to rot when a thread on a football forum can generate so much interest in so little time ...
Without flagship shops city centres die. St Stephens is small compared to West Quay in Southampton. We even have an Ikea store. I actually used to like shopping in Hull. But last week it was dire. The whole city centre seemed disjointed. I haven't noticed it before, but it seems like St Stevens has drained the area between Paragon and Victoria Sq of pedestrians. I do think that Ferensway could be partially pedestrianised
Some of the biggest stores(Superdry, USC, H&M and Zara) didn't didn't have stores in Hull before, other more mainstream stuff like Next, TK Maxx, TopMan/Top Shop and Argos moved from other sites in the city and it hit full occupancy in the middle of last year. If they demolish Princess Quay and make it into a marina(as they should have done in the first place), then all we have to do is renovate King Edward Street and Whitefriargate and we'll be sorted. Piece of piss this town planning lark.
