As stores reopen, one city cobbler is optimistic, while at the hairdresser’s, the waitlist is growing
When Primark opened its biggest ever store in Birmingham two years ago, more than 300 people queued to check out the Disney-themed cafe, beauty salons and fashion bargains. The launch seemed to mark a resurgence of the city centre: here was a new kind of department store, to sit alongside the established Debenhams and a swanky architect-designed John Lewis, which had opened less than four years earlier.
When Birmingham city centre stores reopen on Monday, there will be a very different atmosphere. John Lewis is empty, one of 16 shops the chain has closed in the past year; Debenhams will reopen only to clear stock, as its remaining 124 outlets permanently disappear from high streets and shopping centres. Some of Debenhams’ biggest neighbours in the Bullring shopping centre, including Topshop and Gap, will not reopen. Meanwhile, the Primark chain lost £1.5bn of sales in 2020 after months of enforced closure.
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