IT HAS been nearly a year and a half since a crowd of customers queued outside the Debenhams in Newport’s Friars Walk shopping centre, eager to grab a few last-minute bargains before the famous department store chain closed down its high street operations.
While the Debenhams name - bought by Boohoo - still trades online, the end of the firm’s physical shops was a huge moment for the high street, turning large retail spaces in town and city centres around the UK into empty lots and ghostly relics of a better time.
In the 17 months since the nation’s last Debenhams stores shut their doors for the final time, there has been a great deal of speculation about what would happen to these sizeable premises – not least in Newport, where the department store stood proudly in the middle of the Friars Walk shopping centre and served as the attraction’s main draw.
The loss has undoubtedly been a major blow for the city centre, and though Debenhams was not mentioned by name, the departure of “anchor” retailers from Friars Walk was referenced by the Bistrot Pierre boss last month when he explained to the Argus why the French restaurant had reluctantly decided to leave Newport.
Amid the wider economic forecasts and rising inflation, this is a time of uncertainty for high streets and shopping centres, so it is perhaps no surprise that in some other parts of Wales, other organisations have stepped in to convert their old Debenhams shops for other uses.
This is the case in Carmarthenshire, where the local authority proudly announced in the spring it would be taking the lead in setting up a multi-agency “Hwb” for public services at the former Debenhams in Carmarthen.
Funded to the tune of £15 million of UK Government “levelling-up” cash and £3.5 million from Carmarthenshire County Council, the Hwb “aims to support people of all ages to access key services all under one roof”.
Then-council leader Emlyn Dole called the plans “an exciting opportunity to transform the high street and benefit the people and businesses of Carmarthenshire”, with services like healthcare, a gym, employment support and university facilities all earmarked for inclusion.
The Carmarthen Hwb is set to open next spring, and by “bringing the prominent redundant retail unit back into use, the project will support the transformation and economic resilience of the town centre by delivering a new mix of services to the high street, attracting more people and helping increase footfall for neighbouring shops and businesses”, the council said at the time the project was launched.
Others could follow suit. In Swansea, there are reports the local authority could be “a step closer” to acquiring the city’s former Debenhams site, the Local Democracy Reporting service revealed in September.
A Swansea Council cabinet meeting “sought consideration of the acquisition of the Debenhams store to support the recovery of the city centre”, and a spokesperson for the authority later said councillors were “considering options” for the former retail site.
However, a change of use in Newport is not a foregone conclusion. Some former Debenhams stores around Wales have had no trouble finding new occupants – Matalan and Marks and Spencer have moved into the old Debenhams sites in Llanelli and Llandudno, respectively.
The former Debenhams store in Haverfordwest, which was closed down in October 2019, has since become a Home Bargains shop in the town’s Withybush Retail Estate, too.
But other areas like Newport have struggled to breathe new life into these old retail spaces. Like in Friars Walk, the empty Debenhams units in Bangor, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil and Wrexham all have question marks over their futures.
For Newport city centre, the arrival of a new retailer – or of something completely different, as seen in Carmarthen – would surely be a boon for business, and help to attract more shoppers and increase footfall after what has been a tough couple of years, driven by the pandemic and the nation’s current economic troubles.
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