A year ago today, retail giant Wilko started shutting its shops across the county.
While several units have been filled, gaping holes have been left in some town centres, as Louis Walker reports…
“People just aren’t coming through here anymore. I mean, today, it is dead as a dodo.”
Shopper Debra McGee’s observation on the Park Mall shopping centre in Ashford encapsulates how some town centres are still reeling from the sudden loss of Wilko.
It was 12 months ago today that the retail giant started closing its stores – just a month after declaring bankruptcy – with 12,500 people losing their jobs nationwide.
Of the 15 branches in Kent to shut, seven have been filled, helping those high streets bounce back swiftly.
Yet more than half remain empty – including large town centre units in Sittingbourne, Folkestone and Ashford, the latter perhaps being hit hardest of all.
Traders and shoppers agree that Wilko was the main attraction drawing people to Park Mall.
Ms McGee told KentOnline: “I used it all the time, but if you look across Ashford town centre, I think it’s indicative of what’s happening across the country.
“I think it’s had a huge impact. We have some fabulous independent shops in Park Mall, in particular, but it’s only by having a big store that you find those smaller shops as well.
“It’s a really nice store, a lovely location, and it is just a bit of a waste at the moment.”
She suggests having a space in Park Mall for a “cultural hub” to celebrate the arts could help solve its struggles.
Russell Geen, who owns the Little Teapot cafe in the shopping centre, said: “Everything has seen an incredibly noticeable drop-off.
“A lot of people would come to town, go to Wilko’s, and go to the shops afterwards, but now it’s not happening. People aren’t coming to Ashford.
“I’ve had to reduce my staffing levels, and we are only open 9.30am to 3pm, Monday to Friday now because from three o’clock onwards, there’s no one. The place is dead.
“If you look at the footfall numbers from this time last year to now, you’ll see a massive decline. Look at it today – the place is dead, not just here but the whole town.”
Shopper Richard Michael Hubbard, 64, who lives in Ashford, says while the remaining shops in Park Mall are great, it is “dying very slowly”.
Walter James Hubbard, 68, used to shop at Wilko’s every week and wants to see a new plan to bring people back to the shopping centre.
He said: “I think it’s c**p because there’s nowhere else you can go to get that sort of stuff from because Wilko had a nice cross-section of everything. Now you’ve got to go miles out of town.
“But if you cleaned it out, you could put market stalls inside, which would draw people in. It’s more than big enough.”
The future of Park Mall has long been debated, and potential plans for its owners, Ashford Borough Council (ABC), to turn it into housing are in the pipeline.
Council leader Cllr Noel Ovenden (Ashford Independents) said: “I know the Park Mall development as a whole is progressing forward, and Wilko is a part of that, but we’re still a long way off, and what that scheme will look like, nobody really knows at the moment.
“I don’t think Wilko closing accelerated any plans.
“It’s one of the projects within our new borough plan, but there’s a lot of work, and the council itself doesn’t have a great deal of money to throw massive teams together to do big developments and big projects.”
Cllr Ovenden says continuing issues with nutrient neutrality due to problems at the Stodmarsh Nature Reserve continue to cause delays.
Four other Wilko units in Kent remain vacant with no offers yet forthcoming.
The former Folkestone store on Sandgate Road and the Sittingbourne branch have left unsightly gaps in the high street. The Wilkos in the Dartford Priory Centre and Westwood Cross in Broadstairs are also vacant but remain hopeful of securing new tenants.
Fran Donovan, centre director at Westwood Cross, said: “We’re looking forward to sharing news about more exciting openings in the not-too-distant future.”
Other areas have had more success.
The former branch in Canterbury high street is now home to Aamad Furniture, which took over in March of this year. Meanwhile, the Wilko unit in Gravesend’s Thamesgate Shopping Centre has been filled by a similar new store, called Home and Furniture.
National chains have filled gaps left elsewhere.
Poundstretcher launched in February in Royal Victoria Place, Tunbridge Wells, and Pure Gym has submitted plans to take over the Swanley Square Shopping Centre site.
B&M has taken on former Wilko sites in The Mall in Maidstone and is currently converting the unit in Gillingham High Street.
Rainham Shopping Centre also welcomed the chain earlier this year, boosting what was previously branded a “ghost town”.
Florist Caroline Cobb of Ascot Flowers in Rainham Shopping Centre told KentOnline in March that there had been a noticeable rise in customers after the arrival of B&M.
She added: “I have sold more plants recently and that can be put down to the footfall.”
The remaining vacant lots in Kent are earmarked to be taken over after going on the market this year.
The sites in the Pentagon Centre in Chatham and York Street in Ramsgate have yet to attract interest, but according to the website of property consultants Cradick Retail, the unit on Strood High Street is currently under offer.
KentOnline has contacted the firm to find out more about the potential new leaseholder.
Although all of Wilko’s branches are gone, its goods are still available online and can be picked up from collection points inside The Range stores in Canterbury, Chatham, Tunbridge Wells, Broadstairs, Maidstone, Ashford and Folkestone.
While the wait goes on for new uses to be found for some former Wilko sites, traders are urging residents and council bosses to support local shops.
Mr Green, of the Little Teapot in Park Mall, added: “You’ve got nearly 150,000 people in Ashford, but they don’t come here. It feels like something needs to be done.”