We need to fill our empty shops

Could we be doing more to encourage entrepreneurs onto Jersey’s high street?

Emily Smith reports

Imagine an area in St Helier where one minute you could be rooting through rails of one-off pieces in a vintage clothes store, before heading into a record shop, and then finishing your shopping trip by browsing through some hand-made beauty products.

This may sound like a faraway dream for Jersey but this is a familiar sight in places like Totness, Bridport and Falmouth in the South West. Instead, our town is full of empty shops, some which have been left empty for more than a year. The former Frontier shop at no 10 Bath Street, the old Quicksilver site and former Next store, both on Queen Street, remain closed and empty. Last year Daphne East, the then town centre manager for St Helier, said that the number of empty shops in town had hit a ten-year high.

The recession and retail tax have been blamed for the number of empty shops in St Helier but surely there is more we could be doing? Could a reduced rent and the option of having a pop-up shop encourage budding entrepreneurs to test out their business idea on islanders, without committing to something long-term?

Jersey is lucky to have a whole host of independent businesses, everything from artists, to artisan cake-makers, tailors and potters. But these makers and designers tend to work from home or showcase their crafts at markets and events. We’re lucky to have such a thriving Central Market, something many small jurisdictions don’t – including our neighbours in Guernsey. But is the market concept something we can bring out into the high street?

Maybe it’s the cost of rent that is driving people off the high street. Last year properties 59-61 King Street were being advertised for rent for £64,000 a year on a minimum nine-year lease. A groundfloor unit in the Co-op development at Charing Cross, which is still empty, was being advertised for rent at £201,000 a year on a nineyear lease. And Queensway House on Queen Street, formerly the home of Next, was advertised for rent at £510,000 a year. Again this site remains empty and has been identified ‘as one of a number of problem spots’ by St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft. He even said he was considering taking proposals to the States for a tax on empty shops as a way to encourage landlords to find tenants for empty properties.

There are many islanders, I would imagine, that dream of running their own business, myself included, but do the rising costs and the minimum nine-year leases only put entrepreneurs off rather than encourage them on to the high street?

Jersey is often criticised for not attracting retail chains such as H&M, Zara or Office Shoes and although I would welcome any of these stores into the island, I can only feel we should do more to encourage our own makers and designers on to Jersey’s busiest streets. I would love nothing more than seeing St Helier filled with a rotation of quirky shops, bars and cafes changing on a three- monthly or yearly basis, testing the market and keeping the appetite for shopping very much fresh for people.

Pop-up shops don’t need to be huge retail spaces – thinkers and makers can be creative with small spaces and test their ideas. And to solve the problem of filling those big, empty shops – why not create a mini-market environment and get more than one business inside.

I recently spent time helping set up a new business in KeriKeri, New Zealand, which was entirely born from the idea of pop-up shops. The Merchants of KeriKeri was an old Kiwi packing house which has been transformed into a whole array of small spaces, selling everything from vintage furniture and clothes, haircuts, paintings, flowers, pet accessories and bedding. The shops pay a minimum rent for three months before extending their leases or moving out. This keeps the warehouse fresh and full of new businesses and encourages shoppers to keep coming back and see what’s new.

So maybe with a little forward-thinking from those in charge we could put Jersey on the map for having a thriving high street and one full of weird and wonderful shops. After all, a proposition led by Economic Development Minister Lyndon Farnham to allow shops over 700 square meters to open on Sundays has recently been passed in the States. Let’s make the most of St Helier becoming a ‘go-to’ zone on Sundays in the new year and offer shoppers something a little different. 