Early Christmas shoppers heading to the Eastgate Centre in Inverness are being offered more choices to spend their money.
All but nine of the mall’s shops are now full, the lowest vacancy rate for some time, and a positive sign for the city centre.
This month we continued our series tracking more than 250 premises in 11 streets and the Eastgate Centre.
Eastgate recovering from store closures
Like many malls across the country, Eastgate has suffered from store closures, including major traders like Debenhams.
Our high street tracker analyses all the units on the main shopping streets in Inverness. It also takes in the 74 spaces in Eastgate.
Now, we have walked through town and updated our figures – and it’s interesting reading.
During the year, the number of empty shops at Eastgate had reached 16, but only nine are currently closed – a 12.2% vacancy rate.
The Eastgate has been boosted by the return of the Joules clothing store. It re-opened in November more than a year after it shut its doors.
Other changes have seen the independent gallery One of a Kind move into the former Ernest Jones unit.
In turn, and on a temporary basis for obvious reasons, Santa’s grotto has moved into One of a Kind’s old home.
A pop-up Christmas shop for the Highland Hospice has also opened in what was Crew Clothing.
When we began tracking the shopping centre in December 2023, it had a vacancy rate of 18.9%.
Vacancy rates in the Eastgate peaked at 23% in April this year, but have been trending downward again since.
The recent openings in the centre mean its vacancy rate is now at the lowest it has been since we began our tracker.
And there are other reasons to be cheerful in terms of occupancy.
Maeme’s has started fitting out an Eastgate unit where it plans to open a new Piri-Piri chicken restaurant and takeaway.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is also working on a new £2.5 million flagship branch as part of the mall in Falcon Square.
It will replace the existing unit inside the Eastgate Centre and a branch in the city’s Harbour Road.
Pop up stores for Christmas
Centre manager Chris Kershaw said: ‘We have been able to get Joules back in the centre in November which has been very well received.
“We also have RBS and Maemes currently fitting out and added some exciting pop-ups over Christmas.
“All of this has contributed to the position we are in at the moment.”
We revealed recently the centre is hosting a panto for the first time in the lead up to Christmas, along with an array of pop-up shops to boost festive retail.
Our high street tracker also maps out 11 streets in Inverness.
There are currently 24 vacant units, compared to 25 in December 2023 and 19 last month.
Shops still empty in city centre
The vacancy rate across the shopping streets we track in the city centre has risen to 10.3%.
This is up from 8.1% in October but down from a high of 10.7% in December 2023.
Academy Street, Baron Taylor’s Street, High Street and Union Street all saw vacancy rates rise, while they fell in Drummond Street.
Rose Street and Bridge Street are still fully occupied, and have been since we began tracking.
Shopping remains the most popular category of business across Inverness’s city centre with 82 units filled by retail. This is followed by food and drink outlets, of which there are 67.
Can you help us keep our tracker up to date?
All of the data included within our high street tracker is collected manually by the data team and the reporter team in Inverness.
It includes units opening and closing we’ve written articles on, as well as things we’ve noticed while out on foot in the area.
Our last open dates are estimates based on the best information we could find.
But we know we might not always spot everything, or get every closure date right.
We appreciate all the support we’ve received for our trackers so far, and would love if you would like to help us keep it up to date.
If there’s anything you spot opening or closing you’d like us to know about, or if you have more accurate information on closing dates of units or what the last business to occupy a unit was, you can let us know using the form below.
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