Fargate health check: all the changes on this important Sheffield shopping street in 2020
and live on Freeview channel 276
2020 was long and difficult for retailers and the impact can be seen as clearly in Sheffield as anywhere else.
In a special ‘health check’ The Star teamed up with Diane Jarvis, manager of Sheffield Business Improvement District, to record all the changes on Fargate last year.
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Hide AdIt comes amid intense interest in the premium shopping street, which is set to benefit from a revamp, starting this year, under the £20m Future High Streets Fund. It is set to include landscaping and a new focus on events and dining.
There are more than 35 units on Fargate and it’s safe to say a record number are empty. It follows business shifting online and to The Moor, which has had a revamp of its own - and the pandemic.
The impact of Lockdown 3.0 and whether it leads to even more closures, is unknown.
Also, the annual Christmas market on Fargate did not take place in 2020.
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Hide AdMs Jarvis said: “Everyone’s aware retail has been in decline and Covid accelerated that. Many once thriving retailers are struggling to survive the second wave and the third national lockdown.
"There’s been a record increase in shuttered shops, but that’s not unique to Sheffield and vacancies may continue to rise. Meanwhile, investors are holding off in the short term.
“But the city centre is about more than just retail and needs a good cultural and leisure offer as well. “There are a lot of positive things happening in the city. Fargate will become a destination rather than purely retail and I look forward to some changes this year.”
The Fargate list:
1: Virgin Money. Closed its Money Lounge - beloved of pensioners for its unlimited free wifi, biscuits and drinks - in the first lockdown. It will never reopen after the business merged with Yorkshire Bank and staff were relocated into Virgin Money. Set to reopen as an ordinary bank after lockdown.
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Hide Ad2: Metro Bank - opened in spring 2020 in what was the old River Island store. The clothes shop relocated to The Moor in 2019.
3: The Perfume Shop - no change
4: O2 mobile phone shop - no change
5: Outlet clothes store – opened in 2020. Previously New Look which moved to The Moor in 2019.
6: WHSmith - no change
7: Santander - no change
8: Thorntons chocolates - no change
9: EE mobile phone shop - no change
10: Lush cosmetics - no change
11: Vape shop
12: Outlet clothes store. Previously Clintons Cards which closed in 2017.
13: Pandora jewellery - closed in 2020
14: Office shoes - closed in 2020
15: Carphone Warehouse - closed in 2020
16: Greggs - no change
17: Hotel Chocolat - no change
18: Starbucks - no change
19: Pret a Manger - closed in 2020
The other side:
20: Boots (technically High Street) - no change
21: Caffe Nero - no change
22: Empty. Previously a Christmas shop. Virgin Media closed in 2017.
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Hide Ad23: Paperchase stationery - in administration, at risk of closure.
24: H Samuel - closed in 2020
25: Fargate House - entrance to new flats above Paperchase (behind scaffolding for much of the year)
26: Marks and Spencer - no change. Fargate’s biggest and most important shop.
27: Superdrug – opened in 2020. Was Topshop.
28: Entrance – under construction. The other half of what was Topshop. London fund Nuveen is converting the building into offices.
29: Hays Travel - was Thomas Cook
30: Vision Express - no change
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Hide Ad31: Empty - was Next which moved to The Moor in 2019. Cleared out in 2020 but work on proposed restaurant has not started.
32: Three mobile phone shop - no change
33: H&N - no change. Said to be staying on Fargate for now. Major new shop opened on The Moor in 2020.
34: Footlocker - no change
35: HSBC bank - no change
36: Yorkshire Bank – closed in 2020. Fargate's biggest empty building?
It is also worth mentioning three openings in the city council’s Heart of the City 2 scheme: clothes shops Monki and Weekday and Marmaduke’s cafe.