Timely wake-up call for city

9 Nov 2006 

THE imminent arrival of Grosvenors spectacular 950 million pound Liverpool One retail development will, without question, transform our city centre and give the regional economy an enormous boost.

It is a hugely exciting project, the physical scale of which becomes more apparent with each passing month, as the buildings take shape beneath a canopy of giant cranes.

It presents huge opportunities for existing businesses, but inevitably also carries elements of risk for some of them.

Today we reveal the findings of Foundations for Growth, the biggest survey ever carried out of the city’s business sector, for which 500 companies were interviewed.

The results include the finding that much of the existing retail sector is not yet prepared for the impact of the Grosvenor project.

Most of that impact will be hugely positive. The centre will be a massive draw for visitors, attracting thousands of new customers to Liverpool, with millions of pounds to spend.

But all these new stores, creating an estimated 4,000 jobs, will inevitably have the effect of drawing some staff away from existing employers. That vacuum will have to be filled.

The new stores will also provide significant competition for existing businesses, although all the evidence suggests that the numbers of new customers drawn to the city should be beneficial to all.

The report, then, represents a wake-up call for the existing retail businesses, demonstrating that many of them need to take stock of the challenges and the opportunities ahead, so they are better prepared for them.

But as Mike Taylor, chief executive of Business Liverpool, which commissioned the report, rightly says, these are the kind of problems a city like Liverpool needs, because they are the problems brought about by success. Liverpool Daily Post

Index