Re: St. Davids Shopping Centre
Posted:
Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:02 amby Simon_SW17
Cwlcymro wrote:RandomComment wrote:Maybe they hadn't actually signed a lease with with St Davids and there is more than one occupier interested in the unit, and St Davids said, "hold on a minute"? (It is probably one of the best units for A3 use). Thats the positive version.
The less positive version is that they received news that made them want to pull out. It could be about their own financial position or the broader macroeconomy. Or perhaps its about performance of the restaurant sector in St Davids and Cardiff more generally?
Overall, St Davids has underwhelmed in terms of retail sales. John Lewis significantly underperforms relative to its size, for instance. The centre seems to struggle to retain higher end or more specialised brands. A number of restaurants have struggled if they weren't big names (what do people love about TGI Fridays?!?) yet were still a bit pricier than usual.
The article here seems to describe it as a "recent aquisition" which sounds like buying the lease from Jaimie's Italian. Not totally clear though
https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/556066/richard-caring-plans-ivy-asia-for-st-pauls-after-acquiring-three-former-jamie-oliver-sitesWhilst most of your "less positive" makes sense, it would be quite extraordinary for a comapny to take over a lease, apply for licence and then literally within a few hours decide "no, it's not worth it" and back out.
Buying a lease in St. David's would not be cheap, even with a rent free period buying the goodwill of a site like that would be in 6 figures, I doubt they've paid that and scrapped plans. Maybe a re-think of opening hours or the brand chosen?
I did wonder if they'd try a pared down version of The Ivy there instead. A bit small but some parts of their plans for David Morgan were refused by the council.
Re: St. Davids Shopping Centre
Posted:
Sun Aug 04, 2019 4:36 pmby Cwlcymro
Simon_SW17 wrote:Cwlcymro wrote:RandomComment wrote:Maybe they hadn't actually signed a lease with with St Davids and there is more than one occupier interested in the unit, and St Davids said, "hold on a minute"? (It is probably one of the best units for A3 use). Thats the positive version.
The less positive version is that they received news that made them want to pull out. It could be about their own financial position or the broader macroeconomy. Or perhaps its about performance of the restaurant sector in St Davids and Cardiff more generally?
Overall, St Davids has underwhelmed in terms of retail sales. John Lewis significantly underperforms relative to its size, for instance. The centre seems to struggle to retain higher end or more specialised brands. A number of restaurants have struggled if they weren't big names (what do people love about TGI Fridays?!?) yet were still a bit pricier than usual.
The article here seems to describe it as a "recent aquisition" which sounds like buying the lease from Jaimie's Italian. Not totally clear though
https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/556066/richard-caring-plans-ivy-asia-for-st-pauls-after-acquiring-three-former-jamie-oliver-sitesWhilst most of your "less positive" makes sense, it would be quite extraordinary for a comapny to take over a lease, apply for licence and then literally within a few hours decide "no, it's not worth it" and back out.
Buying a lease in St. David's would not be cheap, even with a rent free period buying the goodwill of a site like that would be in 6 figures, I doubt they've paid that and scrapped plans. Maybe a re-think of opening hours or the brand chosen?
I did wonder if they'd try a pared down version of The Ivy there instead. A bit small but some parts of their plans for David Morgan were refused by the council.
I agree, no way would they buy into a lease and then change their mind in a matter of hours. Either they decided on a rethink to a part of the licensing application, or decided one of their other restaurants would fit better.
Re: St. Davids Shopping Centre
Posted:
Thu Aug 15, 2019 6:25 pmby RandomComment
I think we'll see another empty unit at the John Lewis end of the Centre (which is a bit of a boulevard of broken dreams - doesn't inspire much confidence in John Lewis's performance either!).
Karen Millen is likely to close after it was bought by Boohoo.com, who apparently plan to close all its physical standalone stores. It follows Coast which has already closed.
St Davids doesn't really seem to have gotten into the top echelon of shopping centres in the UK, so I think its more vulnerable than the likes of Trafford Centre, Buchannan Square, Bluewater, Westfields, etc., to closures. There doesn't seem to be many brands waiting in the wings for sort of experience type stores.
Re: St. Davids Shopping Centre
Posted:
Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:58 pmby Simon_SW17
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/ivy-restaurant-cardiff-opening-2019-16790123The Ivy is now opening in the Jamies Italian unit, they'll have a lot more outside seating here but it's a lot smaller inside than the old Moss Bros until further up The Hayes. Guess this will stay empty now.
Re: St. Davids Shopping Centre
Posted:
Tue Oct 08, 2019 6:22 pmby DaveE
Planning application in for signage for a new Ted Baker store to replace the old Coast store on the Ground Floor of St David’s 2:
https://planning.cardiff.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=_CARDIFF_DCAPR_129024&activeTab=summary
Re: St. Davids Shopping Centre
Posted:
Fri Nov 08, 2019 1:41 pmby Brian62
Ted Baker opened this morning. Bit small for one of their shops.
Oh, and hello, first post thanks for having me.
Re: St. Davids Shopping Centre
Posted:
Fri Nov 08, 2019 4:48 pmby paul cardiffwalesmap
Brian62 wrote:Ted Baker opened this morning. Bit small for one of their shops.
Oh, and hello, first post thanks for having me.
You're very welcome Brian - great to have you on-board!
Re: St. Davids Shopping Centre
Posted:
Fri Nov 08, 2019 10:47 pmby DaveE
2nd store for Zara in Cardiff (or relocation ahead of closure of the Queen Street store maybe!). I see the big unit on the 1st floor near Victoria’s Secret which has been vacant for a while is boarded up so I guess that’s the new location..
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/fashion/zara-new-cardiff-st-davids-17213657
Re: St. Davids Shopping Centre
Posted:
Sat Nov 09, 2019 9:12 amby Andrew J
That's surely smaller than their existing store so not sure how it would be a flagship and it would be a huge disappointment if it didn't include Zara Home
Re: St. Davids Shopping Centre
Posted:
Sat Nov 09, 2019 1:31 pmby durhamcowboy
Noticed that Swatch have closed there store and that the jewellers on the Hayes is closing down