Capitol Shopping Centre News

I would like another sports store there!

I have it on exceptional authority that H&M and other units near it are being reconstructed in order to convert the whole of that side into a.... food court.

Just like back in the day. Hopefully with an entrance onto Station Terrace though.

Soho Coffee has vacated the Capitol Centre overnight.

Not surprised, it was always dead.

And Soho Coffee is looking like quite a dated brand it must be said.

As the centre has new owners I would have thought they'd be super keen to redevelop and get some more rental income. It looks very scruffy and dirty along Station Terrace and the old H&M unit is up for let rather than being redeveloped into a food court as was mentioned on here previously. The old Index unit must have been empty for a decade now?

I doubt they're covering their costs at present so what's the plan?

They probably are covering "running costs": the combination of rents and service charges (which are what is meant to pay for running costs) would probably see to that. But they're probably getting an atrocious return on their capital.

I guess what they are pondering is whether investment would be pouring good money after bad. Is it better just to write down the asset and take the positive cash-flow?

The 'structural' design of the centre now looks very poor: no entrance to the train station; the 'backdoor' access from the rest of the centre to the cinema. I'm not sure a food court would work given the shopping offering, and the poor links to the cinema. Who would make the effort to go there?

The feeling I get is it would be really quite expensive to turn the centre around. Big (and disruptive) structural works would be needed: knock another entrance through the H&M unit; close up the existing secondary entrance and reconfigure the units accordingly; somewhow make a more welcoming entrance to the cinema from inside the centre.

Even then the chance of really turning things around might not be that great. Zone A rents at this end of Queen St have fallen off a cliff, and restaurant units are not as lucrative as shops - they are sort of 'loss leaders' in many shopping centre strategies, drawing in additional shoppers and increasing dwell times, to make shop units more attractive.

So maybe they are right just to take the cash-flow. And wait for either an expansion in retailer demand which brings unit demand back to the centre.. or a viable redevelopment proposal.

Taking Shape has a notice in the window saying it's closing. Another one bites the dust.

Walked down the length of Queen St and the pedestrian end of Mary St yesterday evening and apart from beggers in every door way, these once great Cardiff shopping streets are in a bad way.
Pound shops, vacant shops, even the ones still trading look awful. Thornton's chocolate could do with a good coat of paint and have its windows fixed.
There looks to be no money in "outdoor" retailing anymore.

I wonder if it could be seasonal. I wouldn't want to spend my time trundling through the arcades when the weather is good.