“Look beyond the roadworks and Herras fencing and you will see a new Aberdeen city centre emerging…”
With these words, Ryan Crighton begins a speech imploring business owners to take a chance on filling some of Union Street’s empty units.
The Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce policy and marketing director is among the speakers who are going to spend the next 90 minutes convincing aspiring traders that the struggling Granite Mile is worth the gamble.
As the screen flickers into life behind him, the wall at Aberdeen Music Hall becomes a mural of all the notable projects recently embarked upon in the city centre.
Front and centre is the £40 million food and drink hall being built at The Green, flanked by other major projects like the revamped Union Terrace Gardens and award-winning Art Gallery.
This, he says as he gestures to the images, is proof of the huge investment into the area as efforts to boost its fortunes gather pace.
The event on Monday night was attended by more than 100 people considering setting up shop on Union Street, who heard that empty units decreased from 48 to 34 last year.
And now a fresh drive has been launched to slash that down to 20 by the end of 2025.
‘Opening up a new business in the city centre has never been this cheap’
Our Union Street boss Bob Keiller is next to take the spotlight and convince the audience that there are now more opportunities to thrive in the city centre than ever before.
Pointing towards a fancy graph with current rent prices in Aberdeen compared to elsewhere in Scotland, he says taking on a Union Street unit is the “cheapest it’s been in a long time”.
The image is rather complex, but the message is simple: “If the high street is right for it, just go for it – there is no better time to do it”.
To further prove his point, Bob explains how taking on the empty unit on 98 Union Street, for example, would have cost about £90,000 in rent and rates back in 2023.
And with the cash support available from the council and other outlets now – including the offer of 12 months free of rent to newcomers, this has come down to £36,000.
‘We want to fill empty Union Street units – and we’ll help you do that’
Our Union Street’s ambition for the year ahead, however, is to persuade all building owners to drop their prices to a low rate and invest in improving the units.
This he hopes will be enough encouragement for aspiring traders to take a leap of faith on the city centre and launch their business there.
The ultimate goal is to chop down the remaining empty units by half by the end of the year.
“There is help available,” Bob says as another slide outlining an array of offers and support for those who opt to open up shop in the city centre.
“These [deals] are unique to Aberdeen – there is no other place that does anything like this, and it can give you the things that you need to get your business off the ground.”
And what’s Bob’s wish for the high street for 2025?
He quickly answers: “For people to say that the city centre is nae as bad as it used to be”.
You can track which Union Street units are empty in our designated tracker.
More information on the support available to those who want to start a business on the high street can be found on the Our Union Street and Aberdeen City Council websites.
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