Cardiff Retail

https://www.shopproperty.co.uk/Pdf/4001 ... cbd92ca45e

This brochure indicates that the River Island, Zara and Topman|Topshop units are all up for rent... Can anyone shed any light on this?

The removal of these three stores would absolutely kill Queen Street!

So it could be one of two things:

a) The retailers have decided to move in to St Davids (and maybe River Island consolidate into St Davids). You're right, that would be bad news for Queen St as these are important footfall drivers.

b) The retailers are asking for hefty cuts in rent, and the landlord is marketing pre-emptively to see if it can say "look, we can get £X from alternative uses, up your offer".

Topshop's owners Arcadia are on the verge of entering a CVA and are expected to close many stores, so this is not so much of a surprise.

Relocation/consolidation sounds the most likely.

Inditex have 2 brands in St.David's already and had heard a while back Zara may be on the move to join them. River Island having 2 stores was always a bit odd. Top Man/Top Shop may have been offered a good rent deal by St. David's and they have a lot of big spaces to fill.

Also it may be the end of the leases in the Queen St building so a good opportunity to move if so. These units were all developed and let at the same time if I remember.

Also it may be the end of the leases in the Queen St building so a good opportunity to move if so. These units were all developed and let at the same time if I remember.

River Island and Zara were there before Topshop. The Topshop unit was originally Dixons (later rebranded Dixons XL and finally Currys.digital).

Dixons was where Holland & Barrett is now, plus the unit next to it. The 3 shops up for let were a new build retaining the frontage.

No, Dixons was definitely in the Topshop unit, before becoming Dixons XL and then Currys.digital



Holland & Barrett is where Clintons is in the above pic. I believe Clintons was halved to accommodate H&B and eventually closed.

The Dixons store was huge, with 2 (possibly 3?) floors whereas there is no trading space upstairs in the Clintons unit.

Never saw that, been in London too long! Dixons used to be where Clintons was prior to that, Curry's was in Queen's West back in the day

Dixon's was in the small building next door to WH Smith's for absolutely years, then for a comparatively short period moved to that larger multi-floored building when (I think it was) C&A closed and moved out. It didnt stay there long, and itself soon closed.

Nope! C&A was further west and was demolished and replaced by the building that now houses Matalan and the Nationwide.