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Wolverhampton’s TK Maxx store to close
Tuesday 13th September 2011, 9:30AM BST.
High street fashion store TK Maxx today announced it was shutting its store in Wolverhampton city centre to move to a new one in Wednesfield.
The move means 32 staff will leave the Wulfrun Centre at the close of business on October 26 and start at the new Bentley Bridge store on October 27 at 9am.
TK Maxx will move into a previously unused unit at Bentley Bridge. It’s a 25,000 sq ft store.
It’s another blow for the city centre which has already lost big names such as TJ Hughes and Woolworths leaving large, empty stores. The city currently has one in four of its shops standing empty.
Wolverhampton City Council last night ended night time parking charges at five city centre car parks in order to try to attract more people in.
It has also reduced day time rates.
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Anyone want to bet which store wil be next to close? One of the men’s fashion stores, Burtons perhaps or even Beatties?
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what was it the Specials said … oh yes, “this town is ‘coming like a ghost town”
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This is just one more indication of the complete and utter ineptitude and clueless approach of the Council.
Reducing car parking rates, ‘attract more people in’ for what ….. so there’s plenty of cheap places for people to park their cars and see a large and ever increasing collection of closed shops!
Wasting obscene amounts of taxpayers on a bus station that even some bus routes have refused to use, for what ….. to see the new bus station! Or to bring some imagined hoard of people into the city to see a large and ever increasing collection of closed shops!
The business rates are too high. The council would rather have every shop front boarded up than make it affordable for businesses to actually operate in the city.
Still, as long as the people continue to swallow the council blaming everything on the economic climate then on and on it will go until the whole city centre is closed!
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Hear hear, well said. Just when you think the shop situation can’t get any worse another closes. And what a great comment you made about reducing the cost of parking to attract visitor to visit even less shops. Bentley Bridge seems to be the way to go, that place is going from strength to strength and the parking is free!!
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Actually you may want to ask the managers of the Wulfrun Shopping Centre and Mander Centre about their rental rates. They charge an extortionate amounts of money per square feet. It’s easy to blame everything on the Council but it’s not that simple.
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thank god i hate the shop!…..i dont know why its opening in bentley bridge!…..i was in town yesterday and its failing terrible!….you can understand why everyone goes to bentley bridge!…..there is nothing left anymore!…tk maxx i can honestly say i have never bought anything from there because to me you have to look too hard for everything i go in there and then turn right round and come back out lol!
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And I bet its open until 8 rather than 5 like all the shops in town. This means when I get home at 6 I can actually go shopping there.
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Just more evidence of the lunacy of developing the “Bentley Bridge” site. Without the resources of Merry Hell it still is bleeding the City Centre as that dump did to Dudley.
It will be their loss. They will do little business there as Makro found to their cost. Meanwhile this leave a large store available for Debenhams or a.n. other in the City Centre… They claim they want a presence in the City Centre. Here is their opportunity.
To be honest the loss of TK Maxx is no loss at all. Its move is more an indication of the state of its business. Just pop along to any of its other branches and see what I mean.
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The kettle calling the pot black eh? How can you call Merryhill a dump and stick up for Wolverhampton? If you think Meryhill is a dump you obviously haven’t even been to the place. As for Killing off Dudley. Well people choose to shop where they want, and it is people who shop there that are responsible directly for this.Human Nature to get to the best choice of shops at the right price, and of course Free parking. Talk to your councillors first. They are mainly at fault for not supporting their retailers in the first place. They want to rob us all on parking even before we spend in the shops.Merryhill is a superb place to shop with everything under one roof..Oh and clean.
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Bring back C&A ???
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here here!! clock house rocked! not even a british store, (it’s belgian) so anything foreign is welcomed with open arms in this country!!!
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why dont they build a indoor shopping centre to rival Merry Hill?thats the answer!
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Another one bites the dust,but then again this is the council fault with their high business rates,parking fees,planning regulations etc,etc.The sooner this lot have been voted out the better for wolverhampton.
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Well i do shop at TK Maxx and am saddened to hear that yet another highstreet store is set to close. Come on Wolverhampton City Council, pull your finger out and come up with a plan before our City becomes a Ghost town.
The Bus Station situation can only be described as a total fiasco. People who LIVE in Wolverhampton have trouble knowing where on earth they have to stand to catch a bus home, having the option to catch it at the new £Million Bus Station would make too much sense, obviously. How anyone outside of the area would have a clue is anyone’s guess.
Reducing car parking rates is not going to cut it, we need to stop existing companies jumping ship and attract new businesses into the multitude of boarded up shops we already have. DO SOMETHING FOR GOODNESS SAKE!
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I agree JJ. I am a full time worker, and cannot get to town before all the shops shut. I live near Bentley Bridge, and I hate to admit it, i can get pretty much all I need from Bentley Bridge and surrounding shops. Also on the plus side, Netto is or has closed down and will opening up as an Asda shortly. Woo hoo. I will never have to go into town again. (apologies to all the struggling shops in Wolverhampton town).
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What a shame. Yet another shop closing down. There will soon be no reason for anyone to go into Wolverhampton town centre.
Lets hope a big chain comes and takes over to breathe some life into the town. As the other posters have said – it’s just like Merry Hill killing Dudley, all over again.
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Merryhill didn’t kill Dudley contrary to belief. Shops were encouraged to open up in Merryhill with free rates for a number of years. No one said close the shops down in Dudley. Dudley never had the choice of shops Merryhill has any way. Even in its best days. Councillors did nothing to help support their retailers.They started to charge for parking and screw more money out of people even before they started to spend money in the shops. Th econsumer chose to desert Dudley with a better choice of shops in Merryhill and free parking. Local councils don’tseem to want to encourage trade within their areas. The consumer makes their choice based on value for money. Dudley lost as will Wolverhampton eventually. Unless something is done to help.
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“Merryhill didn’t kill Dudley contrary to belief. Shops were encouraged to open up in Merryhill with free rates for a number of years”
So in short, Dudley council killed Dudley high street by creating Merryhill and offering free rates for a number of years.
So yes, Merryhill killed Dudley high street with the support and assistance of the council at the time (probably Labour).
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wolverhampton town centre is just full of yobs anyway, Plus it should be free parking because they make enough off the exstortionate rent, Rip off Britain
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Reduced parking charges hmmmm…… remind me…..which shops are open at night? apart from the Grand Theatre and a few clone like pubs, what exactly is there to do in central Wolvo at night? An ice rink…..nah – a central cinema……..nah – a sportsdome……nah…….a comedy club…..nah……..a snowdome………nah…….exhibitions and street entertainment……….nah – a dance studio or ballroom (theres a quaint old fashioned thing)……..nah………….what is there to park for?
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Ah yes, the bus station…….just the right place for a bus station methinks, miles away from the market and the remaining shops and the opposite end of the town to where the new Chapel Ash development will be and a busy ring road complex away from the Royal Hospital development……planning prize? dont think so
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Was in wolverhampton yesterday {mon} the town was dead it will take years to get people to go back there I am considering closing my bank accounts in wolverhampton and transferring to a bank that has a branch closer to home there so i dont have to go there. there is no attraction to go up there BHS looks to be stuck in time I am surprised how that keeps going let alone Beatties Thats been ruined once and for all by house of fraser
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Dudley is not dead , its still more than a town then MH will ever be , Merry hill as had shop closures like everywhere else except its never reported by the local media there have been 10 closures in the last 6 months and visitor numbers are also well down from the pre recession days.(why wont westfield give foot fold imformation) Believe it or not there is over half of the Dudley population who DONT use Merry hill
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How do you know half of Dudley don’t use Merryhill? Have you asked them all? You go up to Merryhill every weekend and parking is full after a certain time. The place is packed out. They are doing some thing right. I would like to make a bet I can park up Dudley any time of the day with out fighting for a space. I would also like to make a bet that most of Dudley residents use Merryhill if they are honest. How many empty shops are there in Merryhill at the moment? I have always liked Dudley and would like to see it restored to its former glory,but consumers will only go where the shops are they want.
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and yet, despite all this, there are shops in Wolverhampton that are unique. There are not as many as in the glorious 1950s… but there remain a number of gems… Small shops that are individual.
In fact the main causes of the decline of Wolverhampton’s City Centre are simple to understand and very easy and inexpensive to remedy.
1. The ring road that was never completed. It was supposed to separate through traffic from radial traffic… Since the flyovers and underpasses were never built it cannot achieve this. Therefore the routes that were blocked to make way for it should be re-opened… Great Brickiln Street, Salop Street, Cleveland Road etc. (If only as bus routes). Then the ludicrous obstacles to traffic within the City Centre need to be removed.
2. Parking. Why were the multi-storeys never rebuilt? The council blame the government for rules that insist on parking charges. They should say “go to hell. Sue me” to the government and take steps to rescue the City Centre… and take ithe matter to the European Court if necessary if the Government tries to interfere. The Enterprise zone should have been the City Centre.
3. NIMBYism and philistine-ism. Time after time Wolverhampton’s council has stood in the way of developments that would be of economic benefit to the City. Remember the redevelopment of the Victoria Hotel and the plans to turn that into a bright night spot adorned with neon ads? “Too strident” said the council. “toodle-oo” said the developers! Time after time local residents object to any and every development (just look at the reaction to Wolverhampton Wanderers’ plans to invest! Local police object to any and every entertainment venue opening or improving its facilities. Lazy police with a down on youth, in particular.
4. There is no port. I warned, long ago, of the dangers this posed and the need for Wolverhampton Airport to be developed. That need have had no effect whatsoever on the green belt. NIMBYism won. Eventually the owners gave up and left. A working airport would have meant hundreds of jobs and millions and millions of pounds in the local economy. It would also have attracted new firms to the area.
and yet… it is still the City I shall return to as soon as I can…. and I do travel up to Wolverhampton to do a deal of my shopping… As I said… there are some gems of shops there.
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The latest unemployment figures show that Wolverhampton has one of the highest number of people out of work and claiming benefits anywhere in the country.
Until jobs are created and the population gets more disposable income then it matters not about the shops.
Creating jobs in the retail sector can only come as a consequence of more money being generated elsewhere.
Focus on attracting other industry’s into the city must be the number one priority.
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I think that tk maxx should not move to bentley bridge when you walk through town and call in to the store it will attract you to to purchase bentley bridge will not attract impulsive buyers or those who wish to browse whilst in wolverhampton, i am disappointed that the store is closing for people who use the bus service it will mean taking 2 buses from town town and back again, bentley bridge does not hold many shops that will entice people to visit unless you may be in the area in the first place ie new cross, cinema, restaurant,
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