Colchester's retailers enjoying successful Christmas, boss says

It’s the time of year when many of us spend vast amounts of money we would rarely spend on ourselves, whilst at the same time trying to keep an eye on what we are going to have to cut back on in the New Year so we can balance the books.

Whilst the festive season normally means stress for staff on the shop floor, for those crunching the numbers on a computer screen the experience is similarly fraught.

Away from the hubbub, retail analysts pore over spreadsheets and try to nervously predict whether they will be able to deliver some good news in January when the trading performance is announced in January.

Colchester’s businesses need not be too nervous, according to Martin Leatherdale, the managing director of Lion Walk shopping centre.

Atmosphere – the igloo in Lion Walk has proved popular in the city centre (Image: Lion Walk Shopping Centre)

Black Friday sales were up and footfall to the city centre has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Colchester, he says, has bounced back, and before Christmas comes next Monday, about 300,000 shoppers are expected to make their way through the city centre.

He said: “We had a really positive black Friday week, and we had an incredible light switch-on.

“Then it slowed a bit, but now we are starting to pick up the pace – our footfall for the first time is exceeding pre-pandemic levels.”

New businesses are opening, too – Minoffles has opened a dessert shop in Culver Walk, whilst beauticians Castle Aesthetics has opened in Red Lion Yard; Maddox and Dean, which stocks men’s designer clothes, has opened only a few metres away.

Mr Leatherdale accepts there will always be those who are never satisfied but he remains bullish, arguing efforts are being made to get ahead of the curve and continue modernising the city centre’s retail scene.

Busy – there was a huge turnout last month at the Christmas lights switch-on in the city centre (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)

“The funny thing is that all the keyboard warriors and the Karens and the naysayers saying every shop is a barber’s or a coffee shop – it’s just not true.

“In the modern world, barbers and coffee shops satisfy a demand, which is why they’re here.”

Sam Good, Business Improvement District (BID) manager for Our Colchester added the real trick is knowing what the demand will be in five, ten, and fifteen years’ time.

“Places like coffee shops and barber’s – they’re not closing,” he said.

“The pandemic has thrown every national retailers’ business plan up in the air and they’ve been rewritten.

Designer – Maddox and Dean is selling men's designer fashion brands (Image: Lion Walk Shopping Centre)

“There are these new opportunities; Ikea have had to change their model and they want to come into city centres now.”

As is well known, businesses have left Colchester city centre, but rarely because of the city itself, Mr Good argues.

“If you look at the last five years and big businesses closing down in Colchester, hardly any of it is to do with Colchester.

“M&S was because the building didn’t meet its efficiency strategy, Next was the cost of building works, Debenhams was a national failure – it’s not just occupancy rate.”

There is a fine balance to be struck between having a plan and being adaptable without compromising either focus, Mr Good added.

Open – Munir Khan, second from left, is running the new Minoffles store in Culver Walk (Image: Lion Walk Shopping Centre)

“You can never prepare for market trends – the secret is that we have got to maintain we are fluid and adaptable.

“How do we as a city get ready for huge investors to come knocking on our door and us having the information ready to give them?

“The future retail vision picks up on sustainability – it’s about getting the information together for when change happens.”

That change is happening now and will keep happening – Mr Good and Mr Leatherdale are keen for Colchester to keep pace.