Far too big for B&M or Wilkinsons.. its about 50,000 square feet I think and B&M is normally about 10 - 15k and Wilkinsons normally about 25k.... I think someone on here already said that BHS would be moving from their existing store and Primark would move in... they then said BHS would move in to the old Primark Store.

Might this make sense? It's probably about 1/2 to 2/3 the size of the existing BHS store. Still got a Queen St frontage. And, as its not part of St Davids, which now commands the highest rents in the city, it might be a bit cheaper per square foot. My only concern is that I think BHS has done well out of having too "shop fronts": the one on Queen St where you can see the clothes, and they have a cafe to tempt you in. And the one in St Davids which, at Christmas time, they put all to novelty gifts which get a lot of people in. With one frontage they can't possibly fit all that in.

I suspect Primark and BHS will do a swap. I can imagine Primark wanting a larger store in the city. Their Bristol store (in a former House of Fraser) is huge. It also fits with what BHS are doing in other cities eg Newcastle where they moved into a store previously occupied by Next and opened a new style concept store. In fact, the new Newcastle store looks pretty similar in size to Cardiff's Primark unit.

I see weatherspoons are taking over the old harry ramsdons in the bay, it will give some of the others a run for their money. Terranova 4 quid a pint!

confirmation of primarche moving to St Dai's.

http://www.propertyweek.com/news/industry-events/mapic/mapic-2012-cardiff-secures-120000-sq-ft-giant-retail-star/5046019.article

Hamleys the toy shop has opened today. Shame is wasn't in the characterful old Habitat building instead of in an arcade warehouse box.

The Cosy Club Cafe is also almost fitted out on the ground floor (ie you can see it as you walk past) and is due to open next week.

Primarche.. I like it! lol

Anyway, will we soon hear news of BHS taking the old Primark unit?

I'd be interested whether Primark bought BHS out of its lease and part-paid with a swap? When did Primark open? Was it as far back as 2003? Because I cannot imagine their lease would be any less than 10 years.. and back then it may even have been 15 years (in the late 1980s 25 years was the norm!).

Anyone had a gander at the Hamleys yet? I'm intrigued as to what its like. The location is certainly rather hum-drum, but perhaps its made up for it with a good store design. But at around 14,000 square feet, it strikes me as a little small (about the same size as Superdry).

Popped in this evening (to hamleys), was rammed so difficult to look around properly. Looks to be done out quite well and extends back really far, a shame it's not on the Hayes though, habitat would have been perfect.

Armani Exchange is now open! Watch out for these band uf y'all want discount!

Primark own that building.

Poundland on Queen St are currently having a refit. Was in there today and half the shelves had disappeared.

Perhaps they are moving stock to the Poundland due to open at the other end of Queen Street? I had assumed that there would be two branches but perhaps there will just be one in the old Barclays Bank on the corner of Windsor Place?

I also thought that, but the guy on the checkout said it was a re-fit. I was going to question him further but decided against it because he looked like he'd had a gutsfull for the day. A position which we would also no doubt be in if we'd have had to work behind the counter in that place for 8 hours!

Pret a Manger are taking a unit in Capitol - the large ex-americandy store.
EasyGym, Tesco, Cafe Nero and Pret a Manger are all big chains, things looking up for Capitol?

In the context of the last few years it probably is a good result. I still wonder about the Capitol though - how much longer will the likes of H&M, Fat Face, Accesorize, Halifax etc etc pay for two city centre stores? I wonder when their leases will come up for renewal.

It's worth bearing in mind that Queen Street station is about to start it's renovation, which will entail a new platform and presumably a substantial increase in users.

The best thing Capitol could do is encourage itself as a through-route more. I always used to cut through H&M, but now that the street opposite the station (I don't know it's name) that leads to Churchill Way has been tarted up, I walk through there.

The Capitol don't help themselves with the miserable looking vacant former cinema that greets you as you leave the station. It's grim, grim, grim and the brick mixed with reds and greens and brown glass just screams 1992 at me. It makes you presume that the Capitol centre will be full of people in shell suits, eating push-pop lollies while chatting about Ian Wrights latest Arsenal goal.

You are spot on James. It really is outdated. The canopy needs to go and the Station Terrace and Queen St elevations really need to be re-modeled and either rendered or clad in something. It is definitely of it's time and unfortunately it's time was marked by a (thankfully) short lived fad of post modernist architecture which surely must be the worst of all the post war architectural faux pas.

Again like you I can't understand why it hasn't been re- modeled to open up a through route from the station to Queen St and so substantially increase footfall. I don't know how hard or expensive that would be but assuming it's not beyond the capabilities of engineering science as we know it or ruinously expensive its a no brainer isn't it?

There was an application many moons ago for All Star Lanes which I think was going where the old cinema is now so maybe they are holding out for that? That would have been a couple of years ago now though.

If the arcade was extended to opposite the station entrance, utilising the empty cinema, there would be a massive footfall and presumably high demand for the new and current units. It must be a consideration for the owners.

What to do with the upstairs is another issue though.

I'm surprised that Internacionale are still there after opening a St. David's store, maybe they are also waiting for an exit from their lease.

I don't see the issue, a bit of mixed usage is good for these places if you ask me. I've seen other malls have gyms in them, in fact there's one or two here in Dubai with them that also have lots of other non-retail things in them. If it can work for this weird city I'm sure it can work back home.

People sometimes visit one attraction and maybe go to one or two shops at the same visit to that place. People in their lunchtimes sometimes go to gyms, who's to say they won't go to one of the food places afterwards, or go and buy something from Tesco, a card shop, top-up their mobile phones at Orange, go and buy something to wear for the weekend etc.

What are the opening hours at that mall now ? Are they the same as St.David's ? I'm assuming with Tesco and a gym in there it will be later ?

What a waste of a building. A department store should have gone there - would have been far better than this.

anyone else noticed thatHotel Chocolat has actually opened their store! looked pretty busy tuesday

I'm not very impressed by the new Capitol tescos or the easy gym. The Tescos seems a funny shape, a bit twisted around itself. But the real let down is the easy gym, from the outside at least. So so ugly. Bright orange and labels stuck everywhere. I was worried it would be like that when i first heard easy gym would be doing it. If the colour scheme was tasteful it would be a decent addition have people exercising in the capitol glass brow, feeling healthy and all that, looking over the street. But instead it is a real imposition on the eye. I also dont really understand it as a business decision. I would be put off from using the gym just because of the colour itself. Spending an hour running on the spot can not be made any better by being somewhere that looks horrible.

Have you seen easy rooms in London. if its cheap enouh people will pay!

Primark have put an application in for a new facade on the Queen St elevation of their proposed new store (the old BHS store). Also an application to change the Frederick St elevation.

Well overdue in my opinion. That building really marred the streetscape along that part of Queen St. The plan is for a three storey facade to replace whats there at the moment with a design based on the original 1913 Woolworths building. It's not a mind blowing design and I hope the materials are top notch but it does represent a huge improvement.

Yes, looks like a significant improvement, and "decent" if not outstanding. Primark have done a good job on their two Oxford Street stores which does bode well.

The plans talk about the "new owners".. is this just sloppy language or have Primark actually bought the long leasehold from the St David's Partnership, I wonder? They seem to be the one managing the changes to the unit rather than the Partnership, but I'm not sure if that is typical of retail leases.

The retail space of the store is actually going to be quite a bit larger (by around 26,000 square feet) than the existing BHS store. So its probably now going to be something like 105,000 square feet I reckon, or just over double the size of Primark's existing Cardiff store. If renting, I wonder what the rent is? Still a fair way off some their very largest stores, mind.

On a different note, I had a peruse of the Helical Bar (owners of the old David Morgan estate) accounts yesterday and found some interesting things. Looks like Urban Outfitters is only paying £400,000 a year for their store. You might say "only", but at 22,000 square feet, this represents a steal.

For instance, 11 Queen St, which is currently Laura Ashley, who look to want to exit their store (says "Staff Unaware".. shameful!) is 5800 square feet and on the market for £230,000 and is probably less prime. 115 Queen St up by the Capitol is on at £150,000 for 1,700 square feet of sales space. Former (current?) Starbucks at 18 Queen St is to let at £113,000 for 2,100 square feet of sales. Old Jeff Bains in St Davis is up to 2,400 square feet and is on the market for £175,000.

The old Habitat which totals 29,000 square feet, of which 20,000 square feet is sales is on the market for £575,000 which also seems cheap for the size, although not quite as cheap as Urban Outfitters unit. Interesting brochure for it here:
http://www.shopproperty.co.uk/Pdf/40008183364YKIH.pdf?id=d45195d389fd40ce9e55312dd2dc6c64

Interesting... Is this a mistake or some future expansion plans? Follow this link and scroll to page 3 (The Letting Map)

http://www.shopproperty.co.uk/Pdf/40008183364YKIH.pdf?id=d45195d389fd40ce9e55312dd2dc6c64

It shows that Jack Wills is situated in it's current position on the Hayes and is also in the Rossiters of Bath unit directly behind. Is Rossiters leaving the Royal Arcade and Jack Wills expanding into this unit OR is this simply a mistake on the map?

I think its a mistake. The Rossiter's unit is far too large for Jack Wills, what with the large basement as well. I could imagine some small expansion, as the Jack Wills unit, on the other hand, does seem a little small for them. Any idea how popular the store's been? I can't say I've seen too many people with their bags when in Cardiff. I get the impression the fashion for them has passed a little bit...

As a fan of Jack Wills, I wish i was able to tell you it hasn't been successful, however the store is constantly busy with queues at the tills all the time! The store is tiny for the amount of customers who attempt to squeeze in there. An expansion is definitely required

Agreed the store is drastically too small. As it is supposedly a 'university outfitter' in a city of around 50,000 students you'd think they'd have a bigger shop. Is the Rossiters of Bath ever busy? It's been here for a while but it has never really been that busy whenever I've walked passed. Wouldn't be a great loss for the city if it went, to be honest.

Rossiters is always busy when i have been in, at christmas i could hardly get in due to the number of people queing at the till. it would be a huge loss if it went as its the exact type of shop you want in the arcades, not another clothes shop catering to late teens/young adults.

General news -

The Works on Church St has shut (they have recently opened a bigger store on Queen St). That leaves a vacant unit which would be ideal for pub/restaurant.

Still on Church St something called Italigo is due to open shortly - I think it's an Italian takeaway although not altogether certain.

On Queen St it looks like Chopstix has closed. Can't say I'm that surprised.

On St John St Brighthouse are due to open in the unit vacated by Blacks.

Yeah Chopstix never looked to do a good trade. Not surprised as in London similar ventures seem to do best in the evening, and especially late at night.. and are located around places like Leicester Square that have a lot of nighttime footfall. Thats not the case for Queen Street. A location on St Mary's probably would have been better.

Hopefully a store can go there, although this end of Queen St is a bit weak ATM.

There was an interesting interview with some retail guru on BBC Breakfast yesterday. They were assessing the impact (or otherwise ) of the Portas review on Britain's high streets. There was a lot of positive noises about tarting up shops, holding markets, public art etc until this chap completely poured cold water over everything and said the high street is dying and there isn't anything you can do about it.

He reeled off some stats about the amount of smart phones and tablets sold in the UK, the rise of internet shopping, the various new apps available to make virtual shopping as easy as possible. His view was that there was a retail core that would always need physical premises but this would mostly be concentrated in malls where people would flock to for convenience (and parking).

Other high streets would slowly die until they were either converted into service premises, residential or almost solely A3. His view was there would be exceptions to this rule but by and large the high street as we know it had about 20 years left.

Quite a dystopian view all told. But is he right? It looks like supermarkets are beginning to struggle after years of rising sales but does that actually convert into more sales for independent food retailers? More and more premises in High St/St Mary St are being converted into cafe/restaurant premises (how many clothes retailers in the street for example) whilst SD2 pushes on with more lettings. Has the vision already arrived in Cardiff?

Have we already seen the high watermark for traditional retailing and can only look forward to a slow decline? Is this necessarily a bad thing? There was a time that the city centre was also a residential district after all.

Any views? For what it's worth I think St Mary St has had it as a retail destination and the sooner the Council/landlords accept this the quicker it can begin it's renaissance. I don't think Cardiff is big enough to sustain three big shopping streets and clearly Queen St and the Hayes have left St Mary St behind. Let it become a street of restaurants, cafes, coffee shops, bars, hotels, residential premises, student blocks, entertainment venues, etc. The sooner you accept this the sooner it can be planned and so keep some control.

I also think Cardiff is too small to sustain 3 big malls in a very small area. The Capitol centre seems to back up this guys thesis - the last tenants they have attracted have been Cafe Nero, Easy Gym, Pret and Tesco - food or services. Can anyone seriously see Capitol becoming a serious retail destination again?

How long has Capitol been around? It seems a lot older than all of the other shopping centres. I went in there quite recently, only to find that I was the only one there shopping. It was literally just me and that Asian girl who sells handbags.

I doubt that shopping will go online fully. Many old people can't use technology, so there will always be physical shops that you can go into, but most people will probably be spending online from now on. So that means that the High Street will have to evolve to cope. It'll probably turn towards becoming a dining and leisure centre first, and a shopping destination second.

I was in Capitol yesterday for the first time in yonks. Depressingly quiet, but Tesco was (depressingly) rammed.

Would love it to be something special (Selfridges, Harvey Nicks etc), but obviously that won't be happening. Some cities could sustain a centre with a triangle of anchor stores (John Lewis at the south, House of Fraser to the west and AN Other to the east), but don't think Cardiff could, certainly not at present. Shame.

This is what the new Primark store front coudl look like. I don't think they reckon the high street will be dead in a few years:



Looks a bit messy to me, but that could be the quality of the mixed material graphic design as anything else.