A monthly column by Spalding town centre manager Dennis Hannant:
Happy New Year!
May your 2015 be prosperous, filled with love, laughter, fun, passion and 365 full nights of sleep.
The beginning of a new year always offers the chance of a new start and possibilities for the future and if you are like me, you will have made a resolution or two for the coming year.
However, through the years I’ve discovered something about New Year’s resolutions, while it’s not so easy to keep them, it’s very easy to make them for other people. And a lot more fun, too!
So here are some New Year’s resolutions I’d like you to consider: firstly, visit the unique independent shops in Spalding town centre more regularly and discover what they have to offer; secondly, have the occasional meal out in one of the town’s excellent restaurants (and if this can include family and friends, so much the better), thirdly; go and be entertained at the South Holland Centre, it has a fantastic programme of plays, films and shows with something for all ages, tastes and budgets; and lastly, watch out for and visit all the family orientated events that we have planned for the town this year, it would be a shame to miss them, especially as they are taking place on your doorstep.
Now why am I interested in giving you these resolutions? Cynics will say that I am just protecting my job. Well maybe, but without a town centre I won’t be the only one who will lose their job; many shopowners, managers and assistants will too.
And, of course, many other local people dependent on a vibrant town centre for their work, may also lose their job. But apart from employment, what would the town centre be like without a good range of shops and businesses, probably pretty lifeless and bleak.
The Centre for Retail Research published an analysis in 2013 of how UK retailing will change by 2018 and forecasted that the total number of stores throughout the country will fall by 22 per cent and the East Midlands is unfortunately one of the “to watch” areas.
During the period of January sales, town centre retailers will no doubt be shaking the dust off their business plans and looking at new ways to improve their offer and services, in order to encourage customers to patronise and do repeat visits to their businesses.
In order to dumbfound the experts from the Centre for Retail Research, please support the businesses in your town centre; let’s not lose it, because we didn’t use it!
