Express & Star

Birmingham's Bullring goes from strength to strength

If you've taken a trip to the Bullring lately, you will have noticed a sudden influx of new store openings, writes our fashion and shopping blogger Emma Iannarilli.

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In the last few weeks we've seen a great new stand-alone store for Ugg Australia, a Dr Martens shop opening in the Upper West Mall, a Boden Pop-Up shop and Saturday saw the launch party for Liam Gallagher's male fashion store, Pretty Green. All these stores are bringing something new to the City, offering style items that were previously only available through in-store concessions in the city's department stores, and showing that Birmingham is now firmly established on the shopping map.

It is now quite hard to imagine Birmingham without the new Bullring, with its shiny façade and iconic Bull statue, who now seems to get dressed up for every occasion. The importance of companies like Ugg Australia in bringing a stand-alone store to the centre is not to be brushed off, currently Ugg has only a handful of dedicated shops in the UK, most being situated in London, so it speaks highly of Birmingham as a centre for retail that they chose the Bullring when siting a new store. Similarly, Pretty Green had previously had a small concession in Selfridges, but the popularity and success has led to the establishment of an actual store, following on from the success of other male orientated stores like Luke and Hollister.

What is also really positive, from a shoppers point of view, is that these stores stock quality items that offer the customer real choice. The Ugg store in particularly stocks items that you cannot buy from concessions – offering a complete range of boots, shoes and bags for both sexes and all ages. The Boden pop-up shop has also proved to be popular, and will hopefully extend its stay past Christmas.

We really need these quality stores to continue to come to our city, these are the sort of shops that attract people from outside the Midlands to try Birmingham as a shopping destination and hence boosting the local economy. The Bullring has created a shopping experience removed from the pound shops and cheap fashion stores, and for this alone I think it is a jewel in the Midlands crown.

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