Barnsley’s Retail Sector needs supporting

Unlike “National Chip Week” of last year which was well publicised in Barnsley in the local Press, it seems to have gone unnoticed this year.

There’s no mention to be found anywhere.

We had the annual search for “Barnsley’s Best Chippy” with voting slip, adverts and stories in 2012.

It raised the profile of some of the Fish and Chip Shops in the Town and was no doubt welcomed.

It was reported customer numbers Increased.

Like most Town Centres, Barnsley’s retail sector is struggling.

More reason to support them you would think.

In all fairness it’s a promotion within a Newspaper that is intended to Increase paper sales and drum up a bit of extra advertising space.

Either the local Fish and Chip shops saw no point in it, given the same winner last year as 2011 or the Newspaper had calculated that there was actually no gain from it.

It would still have made sense to mention it though, as did Radio 1, Radio 2, Dearne FM, Sheffield Newspapers and others.

Barnsley are preparing a multi million pounds refurbishment of the Towns Market area.

Apparently 60% of disposable income is being spent outside Barnsley and visitors are rare since there is no central attraction.

To fix this we are to get a Debenhams.

Now I may be in the minority but a Debenhams has zero Impact on me.

There is one in Huddersfield.

You walk in through all the cosmetic counters only to find that the rest is like sold space with designer names in small compartments much like an Exhibition.

I’m not sure what Debenhams actually sell apart from their name.

Will it stop people going to Meadowhall in Sheffield?

Not a chance. It’s a day out!

A larger Marks and Spencer’s would have been better because the one that exists is very limited.

The Town will look nicer for sure.

Hearing that the local Blockbuster is now to close continues a difficult trend.

We are told to await more names that will commit to Barnsley.

Let’s hope they have some “power”.

If we know 60% of the Towns disposable Income is going elsewhere, should we not know where to and replicate what customers demand?

I doubt much is going to Debenhams.

Primark has continued to do well and Matalan is popular but nowhere near the Town Centre.

One benefit will be a better Cinema but what happens to the old one?

The reason the disposable Income is being lost is that people’s choices are not in the Town!

What we get may be an Improvement but can it compete to get people into Town?

Empty shops are an eyesore.

Even the Alhambra Centre is not fully occupied.

New jobs are a positive aim but you can’t help thinking that we are just deploying people from one closing shop into another opening.

The other big Issue for the Markets will be the new costs for existing Tenants.

Selling them the Idea that you will raise the footfall and then not delivering it will lead to dissatisfaction and negative outcomes.

However things look on paper, it’s the consumer that will make the choice.

Never forget either that the 60% disposable Income may represent a lot less than first thought in a poor economic climate.

It’s a challenging balance and only the future will reveal whether predictions were accurate.