As a result of the recent debate about the impact of the Artisan Market on retailing in the town, the Wilmslow market has been moved to take place on Sunday, 17th November.
At the heart of the debate is the issue of whether the market should be held on a Saturday or moved to a Sunday. Having considered all of the views expressed it was agreed that the market would move to a Sunday for a trial period during November and December.
Over 100 stalls will be located down Grove Street, Grove Avenue and Bank Square from 10am until 4pm on Sunday and representatives from Transition Wilmslow will be joining the event.
Organiser Denise Valente said "We are tentatively optimistic about the move to Sunday this week.
"We have received so much support and encouragement from our visitors that I am confident they will still come along on Sunday and make this week's Artisan Market one of the very best so far.
"I have invited over 120 of the very best artisan traders, all of whom will be there on Sunday to show that we can deliver an outstanding market for our town no matter what day of the week it is held."
Wilmslow Town Council has appointed an independent local market research company to look into the impact of Artisan Market on trading patterns in the town.
Wilmslow based Wendy Dunn Research will be carrying out research, at a cost of up to £3500, after the first Sunday market is held on Sunday, to help them determine whether the market should stay on a Saturday or move to a Sunday.
Wendy Dunn's research will include town centre shops along with those on Chapel Lane, Summerfields and Lacey Green.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
And its so nice to see the council spending the money wisely
£3500 to find out what anyone with eyes in their head can see is well worth it.
It's just another example of what a nonsense this whole thing is
I wonder how many shops that don't normally trade on a Sunday will open because of market ?
I will be doing my own research and it won't cost 3500 !!
As you might expect, there are lots of negative comments about the council spending money on trying to understand the pros and cons of having the market including the inevitable offers to 'do it myself for far less'. This shows a lack of understanding of the issues involved and it is not simply a matter of judging whether the market is well-attended and regarded as a 'good thing'.
The Wilmslow shops claim that they have less business when the market runs on Saturday - if this is true, what is the extent of the drop and does it apply to all shops?
Does having the market bring extra people in to Wilmslow and do these people decide to come to Wilmslow on non-market days which would benefit local shops i.e. does the market have a net benefit to local shops. What would happen if the market stopped? Would people just return to shopping in Wilmslow as normal or would they decide to go elsewhere to other markets causing further losses for local shops?
There are probably other questions that could be asked as well. I don't know what the brief is for the company given the job of carrying out the survey and I suspect that no one else posting here does either. That would be useful information and might better allow us to judge the value or otherwise of spending £3500.
Another thing to consider is that the total contribution of the Wilmslow shops in terms of rates must be £100's of thousands so it doesn't seem unreasonable to spend some money addressing their concerns.
Retailers cannot be required to disclose variations in turnover, but the advantage of engaging a bona fide MR company should mean the survey is conducted to the MRS national standard.
I just hope WTC will take time to consider the results and not announce a final decision in Dec. and give WBG chance to comment. Shop sales normally dip in Jan. anyway.
You are right, WTC do have consider Wilmslow's retail prosperity. The Artisan Market is organised to attract consumers into Town once per month and increase footfall for town centre shops, as per Mary Portas.
The number of pedestrians in Grove St could be assessed daily, as there is recording CCTV, I think, at both ends of Grove St.
The survey results will be 'interesting' IMO