Cardiff Retail

Creams - The Italian Gelato & Dessert Co. on St. Mary Street seems to have closed down, sadly. Never went there, but sad to see it boarded up.

Erm, they haven't actually opened yet Simon. They are just fitting out the shop!

Clive Ranger are moving to High St arcade - the unit previously occupied by Eccentrix.

He can be forgiven for confusing it with Kaspa's on the same street, considering they have almost identical branding.

A unit is being fitted out down the Bay in between Tesco's and GRC Global Buffet. Anyone know what is going in there?

Taylor's estate agents are moving from their current smaller unit in Mermaid Quay, which is now available to rent.

Barrack Lane is looking pretty sad at the moment, 3 or 4 vacant units down there. Don't think enough people know it exists!

I thought Barrack Lane would get a real boost when Admiral opened up. People nipping out for lunch, coffee, a haircut, etc. But I think the combination of (a) quite a lot of onsite provision of food and drink, and (b) most workers being pretty low paid, has meant that hasn't come to fruition.

More generally, the lane isn't helped by the fact its sort of hidden away at the back of St Davids, Hill's Street is such a dead frontage and Charles Street has died a bit of a death as a place for A3 ('Fusion'/Funky-Budda, Exit/Wow-Club and Icon have all closed (and there had been plans to open these out on to Barrack Lane). There is nothing to entice people to explore this little side lane - and Cardiffian's need encouragement to go off the beaten track when it comes to their city. As it stands, I don't see much hope, unless they can attract the kind of occupiers people will go out of their way to find - very specialist retail, or a very popular street-food style outlet.

Magic Wrap do a roaring trade as does the Grazing Shed. The Italian cafe at the Hills St end is also quite busy. I think this is the future for Barrack Lane. I agree that Hills Street is a wasted opportunity. Sports Direct and Debenhams represent fairly dead frontages on both sides of the street.

If the Bridge St tower goes ahead (and there is a planning app in this week dealing with a load of planning conditions so it looks promising) I think this area will pick up.

Creams - The Italian Gelato & Dessert Co. on St. Mary Street seems to have closed down, sadly. Never went there, but sad to see it boarded up.

Erm, they haven't actually opened yet Simon. They are just fitting out the shop!

Clive Ranger are moving to High St arcade - the unit previously occupied by Eccentrix.

Crikey, are you sure? There's another dessert place? What is that dessert place in St. Mary's Street people have been talking about called then? I've never been to it, but assumed it was this one(!).

Edit: Yes, confused it with Kaspas. Duh!

Apparently they are two competing franchises that are chasing each others tales across the country at the moment.

Likes like Toys R Us are going in the Venetian style building on Queen Street (was once Gap and has since been a number of temporary retailers).

I don't know if this is in addition to their store at the ISV or instead of. I hope the latter. Toys R Us and Morrisons represents a dreadful entrance to the ISV. Regardless of that I think it's a good addition to that end of Queen Street and it will be nice to see such a fantastic building have a high profile tenant who is likley to last more than 6 months.

That's not good news for Hamley's who are supposedly struggling already. If it is a relocation from the bay it will vastly downsized!