Arndale expansion?

panther · 28-02-2008, 19:12

SHOPPING centre bosses have unveiled a £15million expansion plan in a bid to 'fight back' against retail parks and other town centres
Bosses at the Arndale Centre, Accrington, said the development could include a new supermarket - and that talks with Sainsbury's were already at an "encouraging stage".

How the expansion of the Arndale Centre towards the viaduct roundabout might look

well i never

is the new bit gonna face the vets?...cant think whereabouts that it only near the vets.

flashy · 28-02-2008, 19:14

well i hope they go through with it, i like shopping in accy but it is going down the pan a bit aint it

Yolanda25 · 28-02-2008, 19:14

i dont know why they bother, they cant even fill the empty shops in arndale why do they want and expansion, is stupid

cashman · 28-02-2008, 19:14

Expansion.

half the shops are empty in the scratty one we got.

slinky · 28-02-2008, 19:15

Hurray!!! more space for £1 shops

slinky · 28-02-2008, 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

Expansion.

half the shops are empty in the scratty one we got.

LMAO.....very true.

katex · 28-02-2008, 19:20

Looks also like that the Tesco development might be losing ground too Panther due to the volume of traffic it will produce... YES!! Hope the planning committe seeing sense at last ...

I think Sainsburys would be an excellent addition to the town, particularly in the centre .... is slightly different to Asda/Tesco and hopefully would attract people more from our surrounding areas. Also if based in the centre, people would be inclined to visit the market and Arndale more, therefore attracting more high street shops. Sounds good to me.

panther · 28-02-2008, 19:22

they gonna have to build a bigger car park then

lindsay ormerod · 28-02-2008, 20:34

Just a bit of info for you, the planned Tesco on Eagle st would be seeing over 32,000 cars on the car park in a week, the Arndale currently sees 13,000. Lot of traffic on Eagle st that. Not to mention their deliveries, an estimated 15 lorries a day.
I would not know how to vote on it at the moment, I don't want a Tesco on my doorstep in the Arndale as they would have a pharmacy, hence touble for us, but I don't want one on Eagle St where it would pull all the consumers in and we wouldn't see any trade at all ! Hmmmm

shillelagh · 28-02-2008, 20:44

Surely the planners would make sure that the extension of the arndale was made out of the same brick as the arndale - all that glass and white stuff would make it stand out like the asda at Rawtenstall and now they are changing it adding stone cladding and altering the lights etc so it dont stand out as much.

katex · 28-02-2008, 21:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindsay ormerod

Just a bit of info for you, the planned Tesco on Eagle st would be seeing over 32,000 cars on the car park in a week, the Arndale currently sees 13,000. Lot of traffic on Eagle st that. Not to mention their deliveries, an estimated 15 lorries a day.
I would not know how to vote on it at the moment, I don't want a Tesco on my doorstep in the Arndale as they would have a pharmacy, hence touble for us, but I don't want one on Eagle St where it would pull all the consumers in and we wouldn't see any trade at all ! Hmmmm

Sainsburys also have an excellent pharmacy Lindsay .. think the best thing Boots could do for Accrington is to extend their range (not sure if any room at the back of you) .. on their toiletries and definitely cosmetics .. not much competition on the latter apart from J & B/Superdrug .. who are very limited on the more up-market range. I go to Blackburn/Burnley for this reason which I am not too happy about, would prefer to shop in my home town.

lindsay ormerod · 28-02-2008, 21:51

Range extended by some 400 items when we had the refit last in Oct 2006 !
There is no room for expansion where we are; except for the empty building next door that was Officers Club; think the lease is stillwith JJB.

lindsay ormerod · 28-02-2008, 21:53

Also excellent pharmacy doesn't always equal excellent pharmacist and our Richard is second to none !

katex · 28-02-2008, 21:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindsay ormerod

Also excellent pharmacy doesn't always equal excellent pharmacist and our Richard is second to none !

Yeh, but the general public don't know your Richard, Lindsay .. and presume they all have the same qualifications whether good 'bed side manner' or not, and a modern designed counter says a lot to us numpties.

lindsay ormerod · 28-02-2008, 22:09

Kate, we have a modern design counter; have you been in lately ?
We are also competing with a newer pharmacy just down the road at Asda and coming out on top.
But this isn't just about Boots it's about the whole idea of expanding a shopping centre that is already struggling and has been for years ( please trust me on this; I worked in it for 15 years and just outside it for 3) .
There are stores in our centre who every year aren't sure whether to give up or carry on and suitable incentives are offered to make them stay.
There is one unit in the centre that has been empty for at least 5 years, there are at least 5 that have changed hands many times in the last 5 years.
We have the same row every time new shops are mentioned; folk want River Island, a Next, it ain't gonna happen, Sainsbury's is too upmarket for Accy; it couldn't survive in Burnley !
I'd love a town where a Booth's could thrive and a TJ Hughes could come and make a go of it; sadly it isn't Accy.