Meet the shopping centre guru with her eyes on a positive future
Building
Bridges
Bridges Shopping Centre has been the jewel in the crown of Sunderland ’ s retail offering for decades . The woman whose job it is to ensure it shines even brighter in the future , talks to Wear Business ’ s GRAEME ANDERSON .
PICTURES BY TOM BANKS
T hese are grim times for city centre shops , we ’ re told , but the longpredicted ‘ death of the high street ’ has been exaggerated , says Karen Eve .
And in 2022 - in Sunderland , at least - she ’ s looking forward to proving it .
Yes , the closed shutters brought about by the Covid-19 lockdown meant some shops didn ’ t survive .
And as if the Coronavirus cull wasn ’ t bad enough , with so many shops unable to open , the long-term trend towards shopping online expanded exponentially .
When the Bridges Shopping Centre reopened in April this year , it did so without one of its flagship destinations ( troubled retail giant Debenhams had been struggling for years ), and one of its most high-profile tenants ( Top Shop ).
But not only has the bounceback been impressive in terms of the rising number of weekly visitors but the years ahead look even brighter . And Karen brims full of enthusiasm and optimism as she outlines a vision of the Bridges ’ future which should warm the hearts of Wearsiders .
It ’ s not that she is blind to the disappointments of the immediate past , just that she ’ s so optimistic about the coming future .
“ It has been a strange first year in the job ,” she admits . “ I never got to meet my bosses for months because of the lockdown and most of the businesses I ’ m here to look after were shut ! “ It has been very challenging . “ But in a way , the hard work starts now and it will all be worth it because there ’ s no doubt that the future for the Bridges and for Sunderland city centre is very exciting .”
The UK economy was handed a setback on an epic scale by Covid-19 but the speed with which it has bounced back post-lockdown has been equally eye-catching and the Bridges has been part of that resurgence .
“ Since we re-opened in April , footfall has increased week-on-week ,” Karen reveals . “ Six months after re-opening , footfall has increased by 53 per cent - which is great because it shows local people do still value the experience of shopping and still want to visit Sunderland .
“ Yes , we lost Debenhams and Top Shop , which was heart-breaking , but so did other city centres - we weren ’ t alone on that score .
“ And we actually came out relatively unscathed - we haven ’ t seen that huge swathe of departing businesses .”
What happens to the vast and vacant Debenhams store site now ?
“ If the right occupant approached us in terms of a big department store , we ’ d certainly consider it ,” says Karen .
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