http://yourcardiff.walesonline.co.uk/2010/05/25/cardiff-arcades-inside-victorian-arcades/

Interesting pattern it seems - shops in the Royal and Morgan Arcade seem to be doing rather better than those in the High Street and Castle arcades. Perhaps an SD2 effect?

Azendi now open in Morgan Arcade with a few displays dotted along between the store and Hawkes Essentials.

People in the SD2 facebook group have emailed Urban Outfitters who say they will be opening a store in Cardiff in November/December of this year. SD2 say there are no plans for them to have an Urban Outfitters store at this stage - so where could it be. The Borders unit? Although I thought they were saying a new store would open "in a few months" - rather than towards the very end of the year.

Urban Outfitters confirmed for the old Borders unit;

http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=297&storycode=3164264&c=1

St. David's are probably a bit miffed but having the store opposite isn't a bad thing for footfall.

I notice the story refers to the old Borders space being subdivided to provide a 2000sq ft unit being considered by another retailer. I guess that must be an extension of the empty space at the back opposite Seren and Hawkes Essentials, in which case that is really good news for Morgan Arcade.

Good news. Its been posted on the SD2 facebook webpage - I'm not sure the people there will appreciate that!

Why didn't it go to SD2? Two reasons I think

1 is that the unit they wanted on the corner of Hayes and Hill Street has been subdivided with Hugo Boss taking half the ground floor - which may then have seemed a big on the pokey side.

Secondly, is the rent. Urban Outfitters is probably paying about £450,000 a year for their store (given its about 9/10 of the old Borders unit and the story says its going for £500,000 altogether). That may sound like a lot but for the size of the store its quite a bargain. Units in the old part of St Davids are on the market for £140,000 for a 1,400 square foot store, and £373,000 for a 4,000 square foot store. This is 22,500 square feet for about £450,000 so is muucccch cheaper.

Shop property shows quite a lot of units under offer including a couple of the empties in the old St Davids, and Queens Arcade, the old Envy unit (which is relocating - but to where?), the old Principles unit on Queen Street, and biggest of all the old TK Maxx unit at the bargain rent of £150,000 a year. Is this being converted to alternative use though? offices or residential (evne in todays climate) would give a much greater return.

Call me a geek who needs to get out more, but I do find it rather fascinating to know the ballpark rent figures (such as those mentioned above).

I find it particularly eye-popping to consider the rents alongside the (often) tatty one-season throwaway produce that most of the shops sell.

The shops are staffed by minimum wage jobs, filled with goods produced by even cheaper foreign labour, .........then arranged in astronomically expensive rented concrete shells done out with equally expensive fancy interiors. Fascinating if you think about it.

As Oscar Wilde is oft quoted "Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing". Sums up market capitalism and consumerism quite neatly.

The Western Mail business section today reports that Luke 1977 is moving to St Davids Centre for it's second UK store..and that Eden Park is moving to a larger store downstairs in the Capitol Centre.

I'm not sure if this is new news or not.

Capitol centre seems to have ridden out the storm?

Luke1977 is not news. It was announced last week. A new store, Pulp (music-inspired fashion) is also set to open in July.

Not sure about Capitol. I'm disappointed they haven't secured a strong new anchor for the old Zavvi unit. SportsDirect really is a let down for what is one of th emost prominent frontages in the city centre. I am surprised that they couldn't attract someone stronger, as I'm sure they would have been willing to cut the rent from the approx-£700k Zavvi were paying. Perhaps, as the best units in SD2 get taken up, there might be some movement of national multiples back to the Capitol. Its location still seems strong to me - near Queen Street station and 2 major bus stop areas - Dumfries Place and Churchill Way.

Indeed, and Churchill Way is becoming much more lively now.

Went past the capitol yesterday. Sports Direct have plastered posters everywhere as suspected and it does, as suspected, look really tacky.

Having said that I'm not sure Capitol centre could look any worse. It really is a pig of a building. Externally I'd say it's one of the ugliest in the city - a terrible pastiche, poorly executed with crappy materials.

I'd actually disagree. Whilst it is certainly a pastiche, and since its refurbishment it lacks an overall 'style', from certain angles it is a quite-impressive building. In particular, the two refurbished and updated frontages - facing west down Queen Street (the main entrance) and east towards Newport Road (by UCB) are both quite striking features of the streetscape. Sports direct could certainly spoil the former, and the latter had been affected by the removal of the big photo advertising UCB.

They do say one man's meat is another man's poison! The most impressive bit is the bit on the corner of Queen St/Churchhill Way that Sports Direct are currently turning into a billboard. Inside I think it's decent.

But the rest of it represents for me the nadir of post modern architecture in Cardiff. I'd put it alongside Golate House, the NCP in Quay st etc in terms of downright ugliness.

Things seem to be looking up for the Castle Arcade according to this WalesOnline article;

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/cardiffonline/cardiff-news/2010/07/02/new-lease-of-life-for-victorian-arcade-91466-26769979/

Trade seems pretty poor these days at the dirty mag shop on Caroline Street if this YouTube clipis anything to go by.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cardiff/2010/jul/01/cardiff-today-empty-shop-project





Personally I blame the St Davids development for driving independents out if business.....


Jantra is that you popping in at 37 seconds?

It's an interesting point though.

Since the gentrification of Mill lane and Plaza del Cazza there is a lack of a place for these kinds of businesses.

Surely the Private Shop on Mill lane must be looking to move? It is so busy there now and it is a totally indescrete place to call into. Of course a decent chunk of the trade will be via the internet, but in that case then a cheaper location would make sense surely?

I think womanby street, or Bakers row would make a nice street for these kind of enterprises.

personally I think having adult art shops on open streets takes away the grottiness of it all. having them on bakers row or womanby street demonises them in some way.

think of anne summers on queen street, nothing seedy about it at all. the british are far too repressed.

and no wizard, its not me, i wouldn't be involved in something so smutty and rude as Sex

The article on Castle Arcade makes quite different reading to the whinging of the likes of Dragons Kitchen about the road works just a week or so ago. But I can believe things are looking up and the pedestrianisation should provide a boost to the street. If only more shoppers would leave their comfort zone of St Davids and Queen Street. Places like the lanes in Brighton are always packed. The Cardiff Arcades are never particularly busy.

Yeah I've thought that the two stores Colins Books and Private Shop really should be looking to move. Somewhere more discreet, and somewhere cheaper! Problem is city centre is quite small and I can't think of a natural place. Crockherbton lane (or whatever its called)?

High St arcade is almost fully let as well. Rouge are relocating from Morgan Arcade apparently. Castle Acade has become noticeably busier recently. It's got quite a buzz there.

On the other hand Morgan Aracde is emptying at the rate of knots. I don't know if Helical Bar have some grand masterplan and they are clearing out tenants on purpose but it is looking a bit bereft down there. Royal Arcade on the other hand is always pretty packed (probably down to the 3 sandwich bars they have).

On the subject of Caroline St why is it that there has been a derelict site next to the jazz mag shop for must be 20 years? I recall that the building blew up in what seems to have been an insurance scam. But 20 years later and nothing has been built.

It is odd isn't it? I wouldn't have been surprised if a developer had bought that, the 'book' shop and the restaurant next to the Kings Cross and knocked em down to build some some flats. Maybe the cost of clearing the patch of land of decades of accumulated chip grease is too burdensome.

Having said that, I faintly remember an unexpected planning application going in about three years back to knock down the small cafe on the other side of the street (Rosarios?) and build a three story block - but that clearly never happened.

I only realised yesterday that the barber's is shut. I do regret never having had the guts to have gone in there whilst it was open.

Isn't the private shop on mill lane owned by David Sullivan ?

Just realised that the Caroline St link that I posted above (from the guardian) was actually made by another CWM forumer called Marbo.

6 mins on Chip St


Spooky or what!

Errm, afraid not - it wasn't me :-)

It was a guy called nate - he's on twitter as @cardiffblogger

Oh I see - I thought that you had posted a link to your own site when you linked

http://hintofsarcasm.com/2010/07/03/pen-and-wig-closure/

on the "Bar/club activity in Cardiff" thread.

I then saw that the name of the blogger on that link was the same as the name on the WalesOnline link, and in an Inspector Lestrade moment I concluded that it was you.

I really should have followed a career in the police force instead of accountancy

I had a feeling that may have been where you got the idea.

It's a reasonable conclusion to make, but I'd say stick to the accountancy!

That video highlights one of my main gripes about chippy lane - the rubbish! There are a few bins dotted along it, but it is such a busy street, even during the day time, that these bins fill up far too quickly!

I'm often there at 3 in the morning and you see people finishing their chips, walking towards the nearest bin - only to see it stuffed full to the brim, so they pop their carton on top (what else could he do?)

The problem is then everybody else follows, and pretty soon you have a scenario like this:


Surely there's a way we can incorproate more bins on this street? Or maybe bigger ones?

They have them now on Cazza street. Big yellow ones.

This is quite cool, a spreadsheet of all the vacant retail and commercial space in Cardiff:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0Ah-EmCKc7VDydEp3OThKTUxkSnl2ZzJpN1hGUzktVGc&output=html

Perhaps I should have said, quite cool in a really geeky way.

It's a pity that the picture above wasn't around when Cardiff was bidding for European Capital of Culture - we would have won hands down surely!

Oh, do be quiet.

Apologies. Beer talking. Ironically.

A few job ads for new stores in Cardiff. Wonder who these chould be?

http://www.retailchoice.com/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?JobId=47977130&Keywords=&Market=17&Industry=51<xt=Cardiff%2c+South+Glamorgan&Radius=5&LIds1=dE%2cSm%2cCIr%2cCNK%2cCWP%2cCWr%2cCWt%2cCcA&LIds6=Dw1%2cUy%2cUz%2cU0%2cU5%2cU6%2cU8%2cVG%2cVJ&clid=1860&cltypeid=1&clName=Cardiff

http://www.retailchoice.com/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?JobId=47923485&PageNum=3&Keywords=&Market=17&Industry=51<xt=Cardiff%2c+South+Glamorgan&Radius=5&LIds1=dE,Sm,CIr,CNK,CWP,CWr,CWt,CcA&LIds6=Dw1,Uy,Uz,U0,U5,U6,U8,VG,VJ&clid=1860&cltypeid=1&clName=Cardiff

http://www.retailchoice.com/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?JobId=47803753&PageNum=4&Keywords=&Market=17&Industry=51<xt=Cardiff%2c+South+Glamorgan&Radius=5&LIds1=dE,Sm,CIr,CNK,CWP,CWr,CWt,CcA&LIds6=Dw1,Uy,Uz,U0,U5,U6,U8,VG,VJ&clid=1860&cltypeid=1&clName=Cardiff (I think this is Ed Hardy)

Application for 36 and 38 The Hayes for new shop fronts. These are the unit currently housing an Italian restaurant and the old Spillers unit. I wonder if that means they have someone lined up? I'm guessing they do for Spillers at least as I'm not sure they would have wanted them out unless they had someone else willing to take the unit?

Is the italian extending into Spillers by any chance?

http://www.propertyweek.com/news/fish-therapy-grows-in-scale/5003228.article

Looks like there's a new spa on its way to the city at some point.

My cod, if that plaice were to open then......

I was in the city centre last week and is was good to see so many people about and how many of the shop units are now taken up in the new part of St. Davids.

Lots of people went to the default possition of saying that St David's 2 would be too big and would be deserted like Queens West, glad to see that all the doubters were wrong. There was even a couple infront of me in Costas saying they had come down from West Wales for the day and I am sure I saw two people looking at a map of the city centre trying to find their way around. Looks to me as if Cardiff may be a destination of choice! A far cry from Cardiff the crumbling post-industrial backwater from when I grew up.

A real mixed bag of news from the arcades recently. Just today we have news that Castle Arcade is 100% let with 2 new retailers due to open.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/08/10/castle-arcade-full-with-traders-91466-27030058/

but a few days ago we had an article about the arcade shopkeepers having a 'crisis meeting'

a few weeks before that there was an article about things looking up in the arcades, whilst around the same time other retailers were saying "no they aren't".

I get a bit frustrated with the arcade retailers. Some seem to think they can encourage 'charity shopping' by saying how bad things are and by complaining about people choosing the big retailers. It sounds a bit desperate to me and rather than make me want to shop there makes me wonder what they are doing wrong.

Good to hear that the landlords want a website (a bit like the Morgan and Royal Arcades) and it would be good to see some coordinated cross-arcade events and promotions. These are the ideas that are needed. I hate to say it but getting a few more chains into the arcades wouldn't go amiss either as like it or not it would probably drive some footfall.

A trend I find interesting is that a number of retailers have moved from Morgans/Royal to the High Street Arcade recently. The former is closer to SD2 and would be expected to benefit more from any 'spillover', but perhaps its pushed rents up as the owners seek to capitalise on interest from smaller niche chain stores who will soon find St Davids running low on the small units (but with a surplus of mid-large units).

I reckon the Morgan Arcade are trying to clear out the independent riff-raff and get some top designer chains in.

TK Maxx are opening a store in Culverhouse Cross retail park which is trying to attract more fashion retailers. One of the good things about Cardiff has been the lack of large fashion retail-parks which in cities like Swansea have sucked fashion spend out of the city centre. So i'm not sure this is a good development.

Theres a planning app for a store called "M&Co" on 59-61 Queen Street. This is the store that French Eye has been in a seeming continual "Closing Down" sale - has it now finally closed?

Its a value fashion retailer.

I noticed a sign for a Cafe Geleto on a shop opposite the castle (I think it used to be offices used by Kelly Recruitment services before). Presumably this will be an ice cream place.

Westworld in High St has closed and has now re-opened as a Bench store.

The High St arcade unit fronting High St is now some sort of University of Cardiff shop selling mugs, t-shirts etc. Bizarre. Not sure if that is a temporary measure or not.

Interesting about Westworld - did they mostly sell Bench?

Bench had originally been looking at a store in St Davids where Saltrock went. Perhaps they pulled out when they got this deal, although its in a bit of an out-of-the-way location for a chain.

I've only been in there a few times and they did sell a lot of Bench. I think Westworld was a small chain hq'ed in Manchester and they have recently gone under.

High St is a decent place for fashion I'd say - Floyds, Barkers, Bench, High and Mighty plus High St and Castle Arcade have quite a decent offering. I see High st as being a bit of a hub for fashion and restaurants/cafes.

Seems the new unit on the Morgan Arcade next to Urban Outfitters is going to me a store called "Joules" - this is the country-clothing, equestrian and "think of the good life" store I mentioned a while back.

Their website is currently being upgraded but take a look at their blog.

http://weblog.joulesclothing.com/weblog/

Doesn't seem too pricey. See at John Lewis:
http://www.johnlewis.com/Joules/Brand.aspx

Be interesting to see how this does as Cardiff doesn't strike me as very country-pursuits. A few years back Cowbridge might have seemed a good place for them to go but I hear its not as thriving as it once was.