Clyde Shopping Centre has been ranked as one of the top destinations in the UK.
A new report concluded the top 50 shopping centres included Clyde in 50th spot behind Silverburn in 23rd, Livingston’s The Centre in 20th, East Kilbride in 19th and intu Braehead at 14th.
But those were the only Scottish venues, with St Enoch and Buchanan Galleries not on the list at all.
Clyde Shopping Centre bosses said they were delighted with the report by GlobalData, which surveyed 5,000 shoppers in the UK for their ratings and looked at turnover, size and footfall.
A quarter of the total marks is made up from “meeting shopper expectations”, which centre management said they would continue to work on.
Ross Campbell, senior asset manager with shopping centre owners Edinburgh House Estates, said: “The whole team at Clyde Shopping Centre work very hard to provide the shoppers of Clydebank what they want in an ever evolving retail and leisure market.
“The recent deals to TJ Hughes and Nando’s are examples of this, as well as our continued work with the community on projects such as environmental issues.
“Being a top-50 centre is a massive reward for the team and local community that support us – we have more new exciting tenants to announce in the next few weeks.”
Clyde has been a story of mixed fortunes in the past two years, with national retailers such as BHS, Poundworld and Evans collapsing and leaving gaps in the shopping centre.
TJ Hughes will imminently open in the former BHS site, filling a gap left empty since summer 2016.
The centre has also welcomed Nando’s and Ollybear while they boast a footfall of 10 million people a year.
Analyst Joseph Robinson, retail consulting director at GlobalData, told the Post: ‘‘The top 50 is drawn from a shortlist of the UK’s 75 biggest shopping centres, based on GlobalData Retail’s research of each shopping centres size in sq ft combined with the annual revenue estimates for the year 2017.
‘‘Clyde’s highest ranked attribute was provision (it ranked 34th on this criteria), which takes into account the retail, leisure, food service, transport and other customer facilities on offer (such as the availability of click and collect, loyalty schemes etc).
“It scored well here thanks to the presence of sought after retailers, such as Boots, Primark and Home Bargains, good provision of popular fast food outlets, such as Subway and McDonalds, and the presence of a gym, cinema, free wi-fi and good accessibility for disabled shoppers.’’
The shopping centre objected to proposals for a new bridge over the Clyde from Dock Street to Renfrew because of the potential competition from Braehead.
Council bosses also expressed concern and last year, West Dunbartonshire Council leader Jonathan McColl said it was important the local authority “keep an eye” on the asset. The council holds a 19 per cent share of the centre.
Provost William Hendrie said: “All shopping centres go through quite hard times and it’s good to see it’s still holding its ground in the top 50. They obviously keep trying hard and are still recruiting and getting new shops.
“They are certainly doing their best and Clydebank and the surrounding areas keep coming into it. It’s always busy so they must be doing something right.”
Damon Scott, chief executive of Dunbartonshire Chamber of Commerce, said the centre’s ranking was “encouraging” news.
He said: “This reflects the progress the centre has made and how important it is to the local economy to generate jobs and its place as a key asset for the communities in the area.
“Clyde Shopping Centre has performed amazingly well despite an extremely challenging time within the retail sector.
“There is still potential for Clyde Shopping Centre and the adjacent retail park to develop further and add to the mix that is already attracting significant numbers of shoppers and visitors to the town.”
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