This is what Walsall shoppers want to see in their town centre
No more pound shops, more up market clothes shops and move some of the bigger retailers away from out of town locations and back into the main high street.
These are the views of Walsall shoppers who have had their say on what they want to see from the town centre.
The Express & Star spoke to shoppers after it was reported last week that more than a quarter of shops in the borough were sitting empty - ranking it one of the worst areas in the country.
Damning statistics from the Local Data Company (LDC) show the town is sixth with 27.6 per cent of shops out of business.
Vera Barnett, 77, of the Alumwell Estate said: "The shop offer has gone down, it is definitely not what it used to be and I am not happy with the options. I am concerned that all the shops are out on the wharf and other places and the market is just terrible now I think.
"I have just been down to the zone where there is Iceland and all that so I wish they were more towards the centre. I do not really know what else I would like to see. All of the dress shops and what not are on the wharf aren't they so they won't come back into the main street now.
"All you get opening now is the pound shops and there is too many of them. We need the out of town retailers to come back in."
Terry Edwards 68, also of the Alumwell estate, said he had been shopping in the town centre all his life and echoed Mrs Barnett's call for no more pound shops.
He said: "I think the shops we have at the moment are ok, I'm fine with them.
"I am not really sure how I feel about the empty shops. I would like to see them filled so long as it is not with pound shops. There is a lot of them around. I am not saying I would like to see any of them go just no more of them.
"Most of the higher brands are out of Walsall now in places like the Whaf so it would be better if some of them came back into the town centre.
"I have been shopping in the town centre all my life and it has changed a great deal."
Meanwhile the younger generation made their case for a better choice of clothes shops, with the likes of River Island and Topman having moved out to the Crown Wharf Shopping Park.
"It ain't the cleanest town centre. The shops are alright but again I have seen cleaner places," said one 16-year-old.
"I would like to have some better shops in, some clothes hops and shoe shops maybe. I know we have some already but we need better ones. There is shops that can go as well, Sports Direct you do not need that, people don't go in there."
