Not all doom and gloom for Chichester city centre businesses
It is not all doom and gloom for businesses in Chichester: that's the message from optimistic city centre manager Kim Long.
Despite the nationwide recession and the loss of several shops in Chichester in recent months, Mrs Long painted a positive picture, saying most empty premises were simply due to national chains cutting back and shifting to more affordable accommodation.
One of the big talking points is who will take over the two Boots shops in East Street when they close to move into the former Woolworths shop in North Street on November 4.
And if early rumours are to be believed, there is hope for the city's bargain hunters with talk that clothes chain Primark could be interested in opening a branch in Chichester – with one of the Boots' sites a possible location.
Readers have been speculating about the firm's arrival for weeks through our letters pages, with opinion firmly divided.
Mrs Long said: "We lost Woolworths, we have got Boots moving, that will give us two vacant sites. It's going to be the first time for a long time that we will have two big store sizes coming up for rent.
"It will be interesting to see what goes in there. The Primark debate will be an interesting one. At the end of the day market forces will decide what goes in there."
She said there were a number of vacant units in Sadlers Walk, but that had been down to leases running out, and personal circumstances.
Footfall, which monitors the number of people on the streets, was down, but not much more than the national average. She also said visitors were coming in only once or twice a week, compared with two or three times a week previously.
"We have not got anywhere near the number of empty shops other places have," she said. "I think that's really important to know. We are doing really well compared to the vast majority of places.
"We have only lost a couple of independents on the whole, and it's the independents we pride ourselves on having here in Chichester."
Partner at letting agents Cluttons Tod Miller, Bob Miller felt it was a good time for independent retailers to get into Chichester.
He said: "Chichester is still very strong, we are getting interest in all of the properties. It is a chance to get new names into the city that have not had the chance."
* Primark was unavailable for comment about any plans it might have to move into the city.
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