The shopping centre in which my newsagency is located has been undergoing a welcome major refurbishment since March this year. Regulars here may recall my posts about the flooding in my newsagency and the debilitating construction noise which was turning customers away- our request for compensation is close to resolution.
the photo above is the view of the mall three doors down from the front of our shop. But it is worse than the photo shows – the gap between open businesses is extraordinary, making our end of the centre a ghost town for the last six weeks. Our whole end of the mall currently have 10% of available space occupied.
Sales across all departments are affected except for partworks – figure that!
The traffic has been bad for so long that magazine supplies will be cut soon – just as the hoardings come down and the new look retailers open.
I am not angry as these changes and we are not the first newsagent to encounter such challenges. They are part of life in a shopping centre. It is appropriate that the landlord blends tenants to achieve the best return.
Hopefully it will be business as usual soon.