Shrewsbury retailers praise Sunday parking promotion
Shrewsbury’s Spectacular Sunday promotion has been hailed a success by retail chiefs.
For the past eight weeks Sunday trading laws have been relaxed across the country and in conjunction with this drivers in Shrewsbury have been able to park all day on Sundays for just £1 thanks to an initiative by Shropshire Council.
Martin Woodhouse, manager of the town’s Marks and Spencer store, and Kevin Lockwood, manager of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centres, have both given a big thumbs-up to the eight-week scheme.
They say the promotion alongside the school holidays and other events such as the Flower Show and Street Festival has led to increased footfall at the shopping centres and in the town in general and Martin Woodhouse added: “We feel it has been really positive and has been a great way for the Council to show how they want to work with retailers and the town.
“They have cut through red tape and worked with speed and dexterity to make Shrewsbury a better place to live, shop, work and visit.
“At M&S we’ve seen a marked increase in takings during Spectacular Sundays due in part to the altered car parking charges.
“Customers have told us it makes it more realistic to shop here rather than in Merry Hill, Telford or Chester and the money they have saved has been spent here in Shrewsbury.
“I’m very encouraged by the latest meeting we have held with the Council and by their exciting vision and forward thinking on new ways of continuing this relationship and of bringing forward new proposals to get more people into the town.”
Kevin Lockwood said: “Feedback from retailers at the shopping centres has already been positive about Spectacular Sunday and stores have noticed a general increase in customers which they believe has been encouraged by the very reasonable parking charges.
“Offering all day parking for a £1 is a terrific incentive to our loyal customers and we would be wholeheartedly behind the scheme continuing and being made permanent.
“This would really send out a message that Shrewsbury is not only a wonderful, historic town to come and visit but it is open for business too.”
Martin Woodhouse added: “Now the challenge is to get the people from outlying areas who can get to places like Birmingham, Chester and Wolverhampton to come here and to make it an easier shopping experience for people who live here too.
“We hope to be able to work with the Council on some exciting proposals in the coming weeks to encourage more visitors to the town.
“Shrewsbury has all the big high street brands but also offers you the specialist independent shops which makes it more of an intriguing shopping experience because round every corner and down every alley there is a new place where you may never have shopped before.”
Councillor Simon Jones, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for highways, said: “We are extremely pleased to be working with the local traders over the summer to encourage people to shop in Shrewsbury. It is very pleasing that the combination of relaxed trading hours, events in the town, school summer holidays and the reduction in parking charges has led to an increase in footfall and spending.
“There has not been a significant increase in the number of people using the car parks. However the combination of the offer with the school holidays and special events seems to have done the trick.
“Looking to the future we have been talking about other promotions to encourage shoppers to visit Shrewsbury and we are hopeful these will be in place for the run up to Christmas. We are also pleased that the traders are considering a longer term introduction of all day parking for £1. We will be more than happy to work with them on this including looking at how the cost of this can be funded.”
