Despite the recession more and more people are still finding Eastleigh a convenient place to come for their shopping, leisure and entertainment. While few shop managers are saying that their trade is booming, there is a quiet optimism among many.
Last summer the Council installed automatic footfall counters to measure the number of people visiting the town. The figures reveal that Eastleigh is trading no worse and many weeks better than the UK average. This has been helped by the opening at Easter of the new leisure extension at the Swan Centre with the cinema, bowling alley and restaurants proving to be a big draw to attract more people to the town
To capitalise on this the Council’s Town Centre Management has been working with the Eastleigh Town Centre Partnership to introduce a number of initiatives to cement the steady progress of the town.
In the summer, a Discount Voucher booklet will be launched, exclusive to Eastleigh, by the Town Centre Partnership which gives visitors to the town discounts on many goods and services in the town. At the same time another scheme will be introduced by the Council for participating businesses to offer to refund up to two hours parking charges, worth £1.70, when a single purchase of £15 is made at named shops. Both of these mean shopping and visiting Eastleigh is even better value than before.
Many new businesses are also seeing the advantages Eastleigh has to offer in being easy to get to, easy to park and with a great choice of shops and in the last three months over £12.5 million has been invested by new businesses in the town wishing to take advantage of the opportunities Eastleigh has to offer.
Further initiatives are being worked on behind the scenes to discuss with property landlords the temporary use of empty shops as artist’s studios or workshops. Town Centre Manager Dennis Chandler said, “in this difficult economic climate all businesses have had to examine the way they do things and become more innovative, to retain and attract fresh business. Managing the town centre is no different.”
The Eastleigh Town Centre Partnership is a group of businesses and others determined to drive the prosperity of the town. Partnership Chair, Dee Buffone said, “ these are demanding times and as commercial businesses we want a more prosperous and vibrant town centre, which means more people coming into Eastleigh and, most importantly, more customers in our establishments.”
Dennis Chandler
Town Centre Manager