The Vale of White Horse District Council are urging us to support local traders as they confirm the free parking days in the run up to Christmas. In Abingdon they will be the Saturdays (5, 12, 19 December) .
December 5th is also Small Business Saturday.
People were volunteering in one the charity shops today, decorating the window and getting the shop ready to open. Such shops will be permitted to reopen from Wednesday at 1am.
The rest of the winter will be uncertain for traders. There could be further closures.
Oxfordshire will be in the new tier 2 …
I see Abingdon Sport shop is closing down. There won’t be many shops to shop in soon the way it is going. I don’t know what shops are opening on the Fairacres shopping site. I know that a Lidl is supposed to be coming.
The local councils should be working NOW to think of new ideas for our shopping precinct, as soon others will go the way of many larger branded shops. Now is the time to reduce rents and look to smaller independent businesses such as craft shops, boutique shops and not turkish barbers and coffee shops. Let’s try to save our precinct now before its too late.
Will there be a need for travel agents soon? Certainly not two in the same road/precinct. Will New Look thrive after the loss of the Arcadia groups shops or will it too succumb to online shopping and Tier restrictions?
There must be a way to make it affordable to new, smaller businesses to entice people to shop without having overheads that cripple them from the off. How about a charge based on the % of takings over and above a threshold, therefore shops will know what the lower fixed cost is and potentially have a rebate if sales exceed a top cap on rates. Everyone wins then providing footfall is such that business can operate. To gain footfall, you need all shops occupied and working to the same model.
Good ideas. But none of the shops in the precinct are anything to do with ‘the councils’, whichever ones you mean by that. In fact rents forall shops are nothing to do with ‘the councils’.
All the thriving highstreets have one thing in common. It’s not a pleasant pill to swallow…but it’s noticeable – not least because of their busy, bustling, retail and community.
It would never be done though.
I am certain they will have con-sultans beavering away, at great cost, on ideas for the precinct…
this little thing call the internet exists.
it renders all manner of shops no longer feasible.
the 1980s will never come back so we have to make do with the shops that do something that the internet can’t.
its no good blaming the council for precinct problems.The precinct is privately owned/”run”, and its well known that the owners dont give two hoots about Abingdon and its businesses. Speak to the independent store owners and see what they have to tell you.
The internet isn’t the issue. That’s a misnomer.
The current leaseholders for the shopping centre are trying to sell it on. Although I am not optimistic I suppose we can at least hope that the new owners will take a more pro-active approach, rather than seeming not to be worried that units remain empty. We might also hope that the Vale Council will work together with the new owners towards achieving some of their strategic objectives for the town centre.
Finally, lets remember that lots of our shops aren’t in the shopping centre, but in the surrounding streets. In other towns it is those sort of units which can provide the lifeblood for interesting shops – including those which attract people from a wider area. The councils still can’t influence who opens up in there, but they can help with shop-front grants etc to make them attractive.
What are The Veils strategic objectives for the town, do we know?
Bedtime reading for you, Daniel https://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/07/359975-VWH-Plan_Body_DIGITAL-5-7-LPP1-Ch-5-7.pdf
I had a look, thank you Hester. It appears we are in safe hands. Can’t wait!