THE Queen of Retail, Mary Portas, whose mother originally hails from Fivemiletown, has warned there is “too much nostalgia and too little optimism” about the future of our high streets.
Two Enniskillen retailers agree with at least half of that statement because, as they see it, the future for our local town centre is definitely bright. But only if we get things right now.
Despite realisation and panic setting in at the highest level of government about how best to secure the future of the UK’s town centres it hasn’t stopped large multi-national British retailers going to the wall almost weekly. Movements like savethehighstreet.org are gaining momentum but the pandemic has forced most people to dramatically increase their online shopping habits.
Enniskillen hasn’t escaped the fall-out, of course, with Sir Phillip Green’s Arcadia Group, who owns Town Shop and Dorothy Perkins, going bust last November.
Currently, in Enniskillen there are 55 closed shops and a record number of units for sale. Roadworks to modernise the Enniskillen streetscape continue into their second year and the Covid-19 restrictions mean small independent shops have had to close for the best part of the past t12 months. Add to this the fact that Enniskillen is experiencing the lowest property prices in living memory and you would be forgiven for having “too little optimism”.
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