Upmarket shopping zone hit by closures

AN upmarket shopping arcade next to Harvey Nichols' department store in Edinburgh has been hit by three closures.

Insiders claim Oriental furniture store Soto, luxury bag store Baggatt, and Proudfoot, which specialised in leather coats and jackets, struggled to attract customers in trendy Multrees Walk, off St Andrew Square, in recent months.

The three units are now empty, along with four that have been unoccupied since the arcade opened in 2002.

It has also emerged that talks to attract two major retailers to the area had stalled. Fifi and Ally, the award-winning Glasgow-based boutique store, and Habitat had been linked with Multrees Walk.

One retail industry insider said: "The three shops that closed struggled for customers, it was as simple as that. Multrees Walk is still not as busy as many people would have expected and these stores could not absorb costs as much as some of bigger names.

"Some of the stores that are in there are very good but there is not that much business to go around, particularly with Harvey Nichols next door."

Big names like Calvin Klein, Vidal Sassoon, G Star, Daks, Armani and Mulberry have been attracted to Multrees Walk.

The long-established delicatessen Valvona & Crolla has an award-winning cafe-bar there, with fashion stores Replay and Marina Rinaldi.

The empty units are mainly to the north of the site.

Another source added:

"They are obviously keen on attracting the highest calibre of retailer, but it does seem odd that these units are still lying empty.

"Habitat had been keen to move but by all accounts have been put off by the price. They could have easily taken a few of the units on the northern side by now and created one big store, but the figures haven't stacked up to date."

Fifi and Ally has been a huge hit in Glasgow after opening two years ago and the entrepreneurs behind the venture, Fiona Hamilton and Alison Fielding, have been looking for an Edinburgh site.

It is understood they looked at Multrees Walk after a George Street deal fell through, but have decided to concentrate on opening a second outlet in Glasgow.

A spokeswoman confirmed the pair did not have any plans to open in Edinburgh.

Habitat is said to be keen to quit Shandwick Place because of the decline of the West End thoroughfare in recent years. But Kirsty Philp, at Habitat's head office, said: "There are no plans to relocate our store in Edinburgh."

Rochelle Weir, manager of Multrees Walk, declined to comment on the recent closures.

But Steve Spray, director of Lasalle Investment Management, agents for Multrees Walk, said: "The general consensus among the stores is that they are all doing pretty well and we are speaking to potential occupiers about all seven of the currently available sites."

Shops in Multrees Walk and the St James Centre are expected to benefit from a long-awaited plan to open St Andrew Square Gardens to the public.

Work on the scheme, which will include a pedestrian link between Jenners and Harvey Nichols, started this month and is expected to be finished by Christmas.