Stafford's largest shopping attraction has risen five places in
an independent index of shopping centres, after increasing revenue
by almost 20% through the recession.
The Guildhall Shopping Centre is now third in the list of major
shopping centres, put together by international retail data
specialists CACI, after adding another £40m to the
£240m customer spend recorded in 2008-09.
The study ranked the Guildhall alongside other 'Major Centres'
in Burton-on-Trent and Leamington Spa, while Birmingham and the
Merry Hill Shopping Centre, Dudley were in a separate 'Primary
Centres' section.
But even taking into account those primary centres, the
Guildhall's strong recent performance means it is ranked 9th
overall.
Bosses believe this provides further evidence that Stafford
shoppers want to help local retailers, as shown by the success of
the Enjoy Stafford initiative - over 20000 have joined up to the
Shop Local scheme since its launch in May 2009.
The centre's Marketing and Promotions Manager Anne Graham said:
"Stafford has maintained its position as a major retail centre and
gone from strength to strength, despite the recession.
"We are now only behind centres in Burton-on-Trent and
Leamington Spa on the Retail Footprint list.
"We believe this is down to the efforts we have made to attract
more visitors to the centre, and an increasing willingness from
local shoppers to spend with retailers from the town."
The number one shopping centre overall is London's West End,
which had a consumer spend of £3.1bn in 2009-10, ahead of
Glasgow in second and Birmingham third.