Main Street traders show that premises upgrades are a good investment.
Several shops in Main Street have refurbished their businesses in the last twelve months. Continuing a trend that gathered momentum with the pedestrianisation of Main Street a decade or so ago, many retail outlets have invested in new shop fronts, better display equipment and more effective lighting. The overall effect of these investments has been to offer shoppers a more contemporary shopping experience.

Customers genuinely appear to have welcomed the improvements too, but there have been other benefits which are perhaps just as important: staff morale has improved as they can see that proprietors are prepared to invest in a nicer, cleaner and more modern working environment. Also, the fresher look is drawing in new customers who had previously not visited. All in all sales are up and in some shops they have risen by double figures on a like for like basis.

The beginning of the year saw the first ladies lingerie shop open in Main Street at La Senza, franchised from the leading Canadian fashion retail group. What had been for many years a store selling table linen and materials was transformed in a matter of weeks from a somewhat tired bazaar format into a stylish retail outlet selling the latest in female garments.

BHS is another local retail franchise that invested substantial sums in early January in an extensive refit. Sarah Gray, Merchandising Manager at BHS said: “The old layout was getting pretty tired and we needed a new look to show off the many new ranges which BHS has brought in recently.”

The retail entrepreneur Philip Green bought BHS from UK group Storehouse in 2000 for £220m. Five years later the privately owned UK group is rumoured to have made more than this in pre-tax profits. Green has brought some dramatic changes in the range of clothing and other lines which the Group sells. This has benefited the Gibraltar store as well.

Sarah Gray explained other benefits of the refit, “We now have much more effective ways of displaying the new lines; the layout makes for a better and more enjoyable shopping experience. The refit has also been a booster for staff morale. They are now more conscious of the link between window promotions and in-store displays. There is a direct cause and effect: our sales are up year on year.”

Green once said that his reason for not advertising was because “We’ve got some of the best sites in the country, with millions of people walking past our shop fronts every day. What could be better than that?” BHS Gibraltar occupies one of the pre-eminent retail locations in Gibraltar at the north entrance to Main Street and so is very much in keeping with Green’s observation.

Essardas is another outlet that has invested a substantial sum in the last few months. The difference here is that the proprietors have totally changed the offering from linenware to jewellery. The premises at 15 Main Street were last refurbished forty years or so ago and much has changed since then: the border has reopened, Spain has joined the EC and the pedestrianisation of Main Street among many others. As Mr Budhrani, owner said, “We wanted to make the shop comfortable for our clients and also give our staff a better atmosphere to work in. Gibraltar is attracting a different calibre of tourist today and we wanted to offer the best shopping experience available.”

The refit, which included an extension, took around three and a half months to complete and the business had the additional challenge of running down stock levels of discontinued lines before the work could begin. Because of this the owners decided to carry out the refurbishment in the quiet first quarter of the year.

In some cases the refits have given the owners the opportunity to make better use of selling space. With the new, and in some cases expanded layouts, less money is tied up in goods that used to be stored in a stockroom out of sight of the customer. This has helped cash flow and increased stock turnover.

The investment required for these total refits is substantial but the initial signs are that it is worthwhile as trading in the new product lines show. Indeed one owner said that they were so pleased with the results that they were planning to refit other stores in their estate over the next couple of years.