I noticed today that the fair trade shop Shared Earth in the Morgan Arcade has suddenly closed down.

Schoon are having a closing down sale.

An application to turn Jessops in Churchill Way into the Churchill Cocktail Lounge. Bit of an odd one - lets see how the saturation zone policy stands up.

As part of a plan to expand to 30 stores in the UK, Crocs, purveyor of plastic shoes worn by fashion criminals is recruiting for a store manager for its new and soon-to-close Cardiff store:

http://www.totaljobs.com/JobSeeking/Store-Manager_job52858188

I'm actually surprised. I thought the fad for crocs was over. Maybe I was wrong. Good to see international brands coming to Cardiff.

Interesting to see Trinity Leeds has attracted a Fossil store. Surprised they haven't turned up in Cardiff yet.

I wish we had some news on the old Habitat building.

I noticed Shared Earth had gone as well. Its a shame.. I wanted to buy one of their fair trade re-usable hemp bags for a couple of friends of mine. Interesting caption on the bag: "Use me until my bottom wears out". I guess they only found a small market for such things.

Coffee #1 expansion continues - they are looking to move into a unit in the Aspect. I've always though there was an untapped market here with the various offices on Newport Rd and Queen St station round the corner. With Cafe Nero going across the road as well looks like that should satisfy everyone!

Looks like Coffee No 1 are taking the unit in the Aspect that was occupied by Zushi. This follows the recent application to open up in Pontcanna.

I think this is a good move for them - there is a lot of human traffic passing between Queen St and the offices in Newport Rd.

Cardiff Ian - are you my alter ego? Or am I yours? Whilst writing that post about Coffee No 1 I had a strange feeling of deja vu....

Well cheers Cardiff Ian - "Chief geek Paul".. I feel like I've really made it now!!!

Bon Marche have closed down in SD1. Looking a bit bereft in that part of St Davids now.

Peacocks have as well (although they are next door to each other aren't they?). Even though I never went shopping in there, the sight of the empty unit (yesterday) packed quite a punch when I remembered that not so long ago this was lauded as the home-grown retail success story.

Azendi are closing on the Hayes and Fred Perry are taking its place this year!

Shoon are also closing down on the Hayes so this could be a perfect little space for Ted Baker. Ted Baker would only be interested in a more heritage and traditional site for a store in Cardiff and aren't interested in St Davids so this could be a perfect store location for them, and a great addition to the Hayes!!

I think the Peacocks unit was something like £1 million a year.

St David's do find themselves in a difficult position though. The development cost something like £750 million. That means they need to be looking at something like at least £40 million in rent to reach a decent yield. Some of the big anchor units like John Lewis and Debenhams will be paying peanuts. So that means high rents on the mid and small sized units.

I think Peacocks will make a reappearance in the city centre of Cardiff. Not sure what kind of rent cut they would need to go back in St Davids. Might be able to cut a better deal in Queen Street, which was actually a better unit in my view. Being over 3 levels it allowed an easier configuration in to different departments/sections (e.g. mens, childrens, accessories, etc).

A million quid a year for that shitty old unit under the walkway - you can't be serious.
If they were getting a million a year for that then no wonder Peacocks went bust. I need a lie down.

I think we may have tread similar ground before but how much crap would Peacocks have had to shift to turn a buck on that rent not to mention utilities, staff costs, rates etc etc? Is it any wonder that retailers are going down like ninepins?

As for the Habitat building are we to assume another Sainsbury's/Tescos/Waitrose?

I can't see a supermarket going in there. They don't really do spiral staircases in supermarkets do they?

Well a lot of people were hoping Hamleys would move into the Habitat untit, but I think that's wishful thinking right now

More mixed news for the city centre / Capital Shopping Centre.

On the one hand it would be a disaster if this unit remained empty, a fate the centre can ill afford, whereas it would also be a major downgrade of the centre's aspirations should some of the prime units in the centre be taken over by Tesco.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/cardiffonline/cardiff-news/2012/04/17/saturation-zone-could-stop-supermarket-opening-in-shopping-mall-91466-30773206/

I don't like Tesco, and I represent that by rarely choosing to shop there. I don't have a problem with them per se, and they have a right to exist, and I don't think it would particularly show a lack of aspiration.

I abhor the saturation policy though. It's a charter for idiots, and it's a major factor in who I choose to vote for in the forthcoming local elections

The cinema and Littlewoods have been closed down for an age and yet they haven't done anything with the units. Effectively they present a blank facade to the millions who pour out of Queen St station per annum. Imagine the footfall if they could have reconfigured to allow people to walk through the centre on their way to Queen St.

Also SD2 has been planned for at least a decade. They must have known the scale of it and could have forseen the impact it would have had. They just weren't nimble enough to react. They could have changed the emphasis to A3 to counteract the retail heart of the city shifting towards the Hayes. But they didn't and the chances of that happening now are minimal with the saturation zone policy.

The biggest unit and the centre's showcase to the public at large has not had a permanent tenant since Zavvi went under some 4-5 years ago. They have got Sports Direct in on what must be a short term rolling lease and they have effectively turned the main entrance into a huge advertisment for a closing down sale. Inexorably the centre gets dragged downmarket and now they have to take Tesco's shilling to get it let. How will tenants such as Fat Face, Jaeger, Phase 8 etc react to that? Do they want to be associated with a centre where an ever decreasing number of units are retail?

I think they are also guilty of hubris. An old client of mine had a shop in the centre. He was squeezed on a rent review and in terms of service charge because he felt they wanted to get independents out and get a high street chain in. He has left and the unit he occupied has been empty for 2 years.

I think at best the management have been complacent with the result that the Capitol appears to be sliding towards bargain basement territory.

So does Tesco looking at the virgin megastore unit mean the plans for a gym in the upstairs bit have gone? Or is Tesco just downstairs and the gym plan is still on?

^^^^^ this is exactly what I was wondering, and also will tescos have an entrance within the the shopping mall or will it have an entrance fronting onto churchill way/queen street only, in which case tescos wont even provide much needed additional footfall for the centre.

I think it was more or less inevitable that the eastern end of Queen Street would become more of a secondary shopping area following the development of SD2 and the pedestrinisation of High Street and Saint Mary Street.

The retail axis has always swung back and forth between St Mary Street, The Hayes and Queen Street. It's no great surprise that it's happening again.

The Capital Centre is a pretty dated development by now. I wouldn't be surprised to see the whole area redevoloped when the economy gets moving again.

where in the capital did the cinema and littlewoods use to be? :P

Looks like Evans Cycles will be opening in the old Hypervalue unit under the MSCP on Dumfries Place. Good news for us cyclists. Since Halfords on the Hayes and Chris Harris Cycles on Bridge St went when SD2 was developed there have been no proper bike shops in the city centre.

Wheyhey! Them brakes on my bike sure need changing.

Is a big unit.

There's a cycling place in Howells.

This is extremely good news considering how long this unit has been vacant for, who the previous tenants were, and given the relatively high profile (or at least when it's derelict) of the unit. There are quite a few new openings down this end of queen st now (yes I refuse to give up on this end of queen st despite its troubled past few years), what with cafe nero, the gym and tescto in the capitol shopping centre and evans cycles.

Plus Coffee No 1 due to open in the Aspect.

I haven't been this excited in a while! Could we see armani exchange popping up in the city soon? I came across this job advertisement for a Cardiff Store Manager...

http://jobs.trovit.co.uk/index.php/cod.frame/url.http%253A%252F%252Fwww.retailcareers.co.uk%252Fjob%252Fstore-manager-942390962%253Fsrc%253Dsearch/id_ad.1kS1ca1K1lU1O/type./what.new%20stores%20cardiff%20manager/pos.1/org.1/pop.1/publisher_id./referer_id.1/t.1

Looks like A/X will be joining the cardiff retail scene this Summer, but where will the store be???

please please please let this be true. i've been in mourning since aquascutum went into administration

Jantra, I was in a state of shock on hearing about Aquascutum... Who knows whats around the corner! Anyways A/X too look forward too... I Didn't expect Amarni to enter the city, I must be honest! Happy Days Though!

Quite a bit of good news in this week's planning applications;
Coffee no1 being confirmed for the old sushi unit at aspect,
Evans cycles confirmed for underneath dumfries place car park,
Crocs opening in SD 2, although not sure which unit,
Creperie to open in on of the (i suppose vacant units) in high street arcade.

There does seem to be quite a lot of momentum recently, granted that it is mainly to fill units that have been vacated by failed businesses as opposed to previously unlet units, It would be nice to see this momentum continuing!

I think Crocs are going in the unit between Kamigata and Sole Trader ie. the Tredegar St end of SD2. Also Boots are taking the unit opposite.

On the downside Rebel and Front Up both appear to have shut in SD2.

I think that out of all the stores, these were the most likely to go, they were only short term to begin with!

Although it is never good to see empty units, neither of these stores was exactly an asset to the shopping centre, and with more life down the tredegar st end of the centre one can only hope that this entices more retailers to this end of the mall!

Well, I Didn't expect to see an Amarni brand in Cardiff! & I am actually glad those two stores have closed. They weren't exactly asses to the centre! More space for bigger and better retailers in my eyes.

I've just been into Barkers coffee shop in Castle Arcade for the umpteenth time only to discover that it has been expanded AGAIN. This is now the third expansion since it opened about two years ago. This place really is a prize asset in Cardiff city centre.

The quality of the interior decor is (IMO) a cut above any other coffee place in Cardiff - and the coffee is actually good (unlike many places).

Apparently the clothes shop has been losing (more?) money since SD2 opened, hence the gradual conversion from the rag trade. The remaining retail element of the store now represents approx 30% of the total floor space.

Thanks for the tip-off Wizard - I will try it next time I'm in town. I'm a Coffee #1 regular but somewhere else to occasionally visit would be good!