Capitol Shopping Centre News

Lots of Capitol Centre news at the moment!

There has been some activity in the old Odeon Capitol recently, and apparently there is a new tenant about to sign, with the plan to open before the end of the year.

The potential tenant, a small chain which specialises in digitising and reopening old city centre cinemas, plans to operate all 5 screens, and as running costs will be substantially lower than the multiplexes, it proposes to drastically undercut them on ticket prices.

Other activity:

A unit that used to be part of United Colours of Benneton looks like its being prepared for a new tenant. 3 Store is closed for refurbishment.

The former Index store is now on the market, the lease having been still owned by Index (or its parent company) up until now. This is a massive space and would make a pretty good food court!

H&M have renewed their lease which came to an end recently. That surprised me as I thought they would leave rather than have two stores in Cardiff. I guess it's not doing too badly, or maybe they've been made a deal they couldn't refuse!

3 Store is closed for refurbishment but due to reopen in a week or so.

The old Index unit was going to be an All Star Lanes a couple of years back, guess that's not happening now, shame.

With Poundworld opening in St. David's I wonder if this will be an additional store or a relocation from The Capitol.

What's the plan with the upstairs? It's pretty empty apart from easyGym.

With Poundworld opening in St. David's I wonder if this will be an additional store or a relocation from The Capitol.

Definitely an additional store. The Poundworld at Capitol is doing well.

I had no idea there was still a cinema there! Will it still retain all of it's early 90's chic?

With Poundworld opening in St. David's I wonder if this will be an additional store or a relocation from The Capitol.

Definitely an additional store. The Poundworld at Capitol is doing well.

Guess the number of Pound shops is a reflection of much of Cardiff's catchment area. That's 2 Poundlands and 2 Poundworlds in pretty close proximity!

With Poundworld opening in St. David's I wonder if this will be an additional store or a relocation from The Capitol.

Definitely an additional store. The Poundworld at Capitol is doing well.

Guess the number of Pound shops is a reflection of much of Cardiff's catchment area. That's 2 Poundlands and 2 Poundworlds in pretty close proximity!

Not really. I don't think the number is particularly excessive. There are probably more high end boutiques than pound shops, and lots of other middle-market stores. It's just a normal city catering for both the affluent, the not so affluent and everyone else in between.

Good news about the cinema but I can't see any obvious financial logic why a 5 screen cinema operating out of a shopping centre would have overheads which are substantially lower than a multiplex (unless they don't have to pay any rent!).

Surely the place is all dated (and not in a nice way) and would need a total refurb for starters. The big multiplexes only ever seem to half one a half people working in them at any one time whenever I visit - so it's not as if they are burdened with onerous labour costs (which is typically the other major cost heading).

Good news about the cinema but I can't see any obvious financial logic why a 5 screen cinema operating out of a shopping centre would have overheads which are substantially lower than a multiplex (unless they don't have to pay any rent!).

Surely the place is all dated (and not in a nice way) and would need a total refurb for starters. The big multiplexes only ever seem to half one a half people working in them at any one time whenever I visit - so it's not as if they are burdened with onerous labour costs (which is typically the other major cost heading).

I would imagine an incredibly low rent was on the cards (if not a huge rent free period) in order to get the wasted space back into operation. Compare that to the custom built multi-story Cineworld or the Odeon's anchor unit in the Red Dragon Centre.

The cinema tenant has been revealed as Premiere Cinemas:

http://www.premierecinemas.co.uk/

There is currently an application in with the council now.

I was hoping for a Picturehouse but can't complain about more competition and the space being used/jobs created/etc