Aldi is moving towards its target of 1,000 UK stores. Said Julie Palmer, a partner at Begbies Traynor, "With almost half of British grocery shoppers now visiting Aldi or Lidl every month, the public still clearly loves the discounters". Yet, neither of these are in Rhuthun/Ruthin...
Home Bargains is coming to the brownest of brownfield sites at the old station yard, Townsend, Dinbych. Announced in December, work on the Home Bargains store—the former KwikSave building—began this month, including men in Noddy suites seen within on September 11th.
Home Bargains will act as an anchor store for the entire site. Announced last month and on Home Bargains' tails will come a second discounter, Aldi.
Yes, it's odd to classify Home Bargains as an "anchor", a term that refers to a draw for other tenants. Anchors tend to mean Tesco, Sainsbury's, Debenham's and Marks & Spencer. Or they used to. Such is the importance, these days, of the discount sector. Denbigh is unlikely ever to see either Marks or Debenhams but, till the credit crunch and recession, both Tesco and Sainsbury's were options.
What impact will both these suppliers have on Dinbych town centre? And on Rhuthun?
The starting point is that, at the moment, Dinbych itself is looking pretty fine. Better, in fact, than at any time since the closure of the North Wales Hospital, exactly 20 years ago. After a very bleak period, the proportion of vacant town centre shops is now slightly lower than in Rhuthun. Over the last year, a raft of new businesses has started up.
Of course, there are fewer shops overall in Dinbych than Rhuthun (and there always has been) and this is rather curious, given the population that supports Dinbych's High Street is 60 per cent more than Rhuthun's. The reasons why Dinbych sees fewer shops is a combination of it being:
The spread of town centre shop types between the two towns, according to various categories, is also different. As befits a wealthier town, you might expect that Rhuthun boasts a higher proportion of soft goods/consumables stores and hair & beauty outlets. You would be surprised to learn that Dinbych actually has a higher proportion of both hospitality and arts/gifts outlets, although in absolute numbers Rhuthun scores on all fronts.
Dinbych Home Bargains is likely to have the bigger effect on Dinbych. It will directly affect Diskos (Vale Street) and TJ's/Mr Softee's (Pwll y Grawys/Lenten Pool) but also chemists Boot's, Royle's & Rowland's, E Jones (electrical), Pets First and the recently relocated Mr Bevan's. Indirectly, footfall will drop. Aldi will certainly impact upon Morrison's, the newly refurbished Lidl and the town centre's Co-op.
But what of Rhuthun? We already know that some Dinbych residents spend some of their shopping time here. One draw, for those who still use mainstream supermarkets and who don't much like Morrison's, is Tesco. The other is B &M Bargains. Dinbych has nothing in this particular category, unless you count the tired and dismal TJ's that occupies the former Crosville bus garage. TJ's always seems forsaken and desolate. Home Bargains will put paid to Dinbych people shopping at B & M.
Expect people from Rhuthun to travel to Dinbych to take advantage of either Lidl, Aldi or both; and at the same time Home Bargains . Dinbych will now offer a discount quarter, with levels of shopping unknown in Rhuthun. It will be easier, more convenient and quicker than travelling to Yr Wyddgrug/Mold. In fact, these days, the nucleus of Dinbych's three discounters clustered within 500 yards of each other will be as much a draw for Rhuthun as the scuppered Tesco-and-units once promised on the same site. To keep up, Rhuthun could do with its own discounters to add to B & M.
The $64,000 question, however, is simply this: of those landing at Townsend, how many will migrate to Dinbych town centre? The centre's much livelier now but will it still attract? At last, Dinbych appears more prosperous but once again will it survive? The answers aren't clear but the discount products at Townsend probably won't affect the town so much as perhaps the Tesco-plus-units development.
We can't see discount-hungry people from Rhuthun bothering to go from Townsend into Dinbych proper. But what will happen is that people will spend at Townsend… and we all know that you can't spend it twice, which means there'll be less in the pocket when Rhuthun people return home.
OLD STATION YARD TIMELINE
Yes, it's odd to classify Home Bargains as an "anchor", a term that refers to a draw for other tenants. Anchors tend to mean Tesco, Sainsbury's, Debenham's and Marks & Spencer. Or they used to. Such is the importance, these days, of the discount sector. Denbigh is unlikely ever to see either Marks or Debenhams but, till the credit crunch and recession, both Tesco and Sainsbury's were options.
What impact will both these suppliers have on Dinbych town centre? And on Rhuthun?
- Closer to the larger trading centre of Rhyl (and also these days Prestatyn)
- Slightly on the less prosperous side. Indeed, Dinbych is still somewhat "tlawd" and
- Less popular for visitors than Rhuthun
Home Bargains Dinych (yellow pin) within spitting distance of Rhuthun (green pin). Existing Home Bargains stores pinned in red.
But what of Rhuthun? We already know that some Dinbych residents spend some of their shopping time here. One draw, for those who still use mainstream supermarkets and who don't much like Morrison's, is Tesco. The other is B &M Bargains. Dinbych has nothing in this particular category, unless you count the tired and dismal TJ's that occupies the former Crosville bus garage. TJ's always seems forsaken and desolate. Home Bargains will put paid to Dinbych people shopping at B & M.
Expect people from Rhuthun to travel to Dinbych to take advantage of either Lidl, Aldi or both; and at the same time Home Bargains . Dinbych will now offer a discount quarter, with levels of shopping unknown in Rhuthun. It will be easier, more convenient and quicker than travelling to Yr Wyddgrug/Mold. In fact, these days, the nucleus of Dinbych's three discounters clustered within 500 yards of each other will be as much a draw for Rhuthun as the scuppered Tesco-and-units once promised on the same site. To keep up, Rhuthun could do with its own discounters to add to B & M.
The $64,000 question, however, is simply this: of those landing at Townsend, how many will migrate to Dinbych town centre? The centre's much livelier now but will it still attract? At last, Dinbych appears more prosperous but once again will it survive? The answers aren't clear but the discount products at Townsend probably won't affect the town so much as perhaps the Tesco-plus-units development.
We can't see discount-hungry people from Rhuthun bothering to go from Townsend into Dinbych proper. But what will happen is that people will spend at Townsend… and we all know that you can't spend it twice, which means there'll be less in the pocket when Rhuthun people return home.
OLD STATION YARD TIMELINE
- March 2006—Dinbych's KwikSave announced its closure
- Sept 2010—Old Station Yard developer Cathco goes into administration
- 2011—bidders invited for the site
- 2013—prospective new developers Conyngar Investments announces Sainsbury will be its anchor… then Sainsbury has pulled out
- Dec 2014—Liberty Properties announces Home Bargains will take the 27,000 sq ft KwikSave site as Anchor in a development that will include
- Aug 2014—18,600 sq ft Aldi plus 10,000 sq ft which will or may be be split