The independents are enjoying their day at top shopping centre

Over the last year, The Ridings Shopping Centre in Wakefield has attracted nine new independent retailers, at a time when many high street chains have struggled to cope with the consumer spending squeeze.

When the nearby £210m Trinity Walk scheme opened in 2011, there were fears neighbouring centres would suffer a drop in footfall and an exodus of shops.

Although a few retailers left The Ridings and moved to Trinity Walk, the Ridings is still attracting new retailers, which provides hope for other shopping centres in Yorkshire towns.

The Ridings’ floor area is 92.53 per cent full following the latest lettings, and managers report that at least one more retailer will move in over the next two months.

Barbara Winston, the centre manager for The Ridings Shopping Centre, said yesterday: “We often get asked how Trinity Walk has impacted upon The Ridings.

“In the early days, some fashion led retailers, such as Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, chose to relocate to Trinity Walk but most of these vacant units have now been replaced.

“Since the opening of Trinity Walk, The Ridings has extended its offering to shoppers too, combining high street stores with a range of independents including our new co-operative run craft store, Created In Yorkshire, our monthly Yorkshire Market and a series of pop-up boutiques.

“Together The Ridings Shopping Centre and Trinity Walk provide Wakefield with a strong retail mix.”

Today, the 345,000 sq ft shopping centre has 80 stores over a three-level mall.

Recent arrivals include Monkey, an independent clothing retailer offering male and female designer fashion brands.

Monkey clothing director Richard Mcaspurn said yesterday: “Since relocating to The Ridings we have seen a steady increase in footfall week on week.

“All in all we have had a much better Christmas period with traditional high street shopping outperforming online shopping and we get to meet more of our customers.

“We are looking forward to this New Year in the centre and again being able to grow our brand portfolio.”

Monkey Clothing employs three members of staff, although during peak times at Christmas this increased to eight.

Monkey Clothing moved to The Ridings Shopping Centre from the top of Westgate in Wakefield City Centre.

It has also been announced that F Hinds, a family run jewellers, plans to open a shop in the Ridings in the spring.

F Hinds will take a 1,464 sq ft unit in the shopping centre.

Last month, The British Heart Foundation opened a furniture and electrical store at the Ridings, after the charity took a 9,446 sq ft unit.

Jason Lomas, the area manager for The British Heart Foundation Furniture and Electrical store, said yesterday: “The opening of our new store at The Ridings Shopping Centre was a great success, in fact our best during 2012.

“We had more than 100 people waiting for the store to open its doors, highlighting demand for our affordable range of products.”

Created in Yorkshire, a store featuring gifts and accessories created by local crafts people, opened in The Ridings in August.

The independent store offers a range of hand-made goods from a collective of 25 crafts organisations.

Lynne Thompson, who developed the idea for the store, said: “We’ve had some amazing feedback over the past few months from shoppers.

“All of our crafts people and artists worked really hard to bring this together and it’s great to see how shoppers admire the store.”

The Ridings Shopping Centre is part of the Moorfield Group, a UK real estate and private equity fund manager, which has £2bn under management through the Moorfield Real Estate Funds (MREFs).

Moorfield directly acquires single or multiple assets, or makes investments indirectly through corporate vehicles, including joint ventures.

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