Almost a year after moving the Wilmslow Artisan Market to a Sunday, the market returned to a Saturday at the weekend for a trial period.
The monthly event, delivered by The Market Co, also moved to a new site, with nearly 100 stalls located along the Alderley Service Road from Sainsburys to Multiyork.
There has been a lot of debate around which day and where the Artisan Market should be held for a couple of years now and in August 2013 a group of retailers called for the market to be switched to a Sunday, because it was having a negative impact on sales on their busiest day of the week.
As a result, Wilmslow Town Council commissioned an independent research company, at a cost of approximately £3000, to assess the impact of the Wilmslow Artisan Market. After considering the results, it was decided that future Artisan Markets in Wilmslow will be held on a Sunday. The first Sunday Artisan Market was held in November 2013.
Since the move, the market proved much less attractive to both residents and visitors, as well as some of the businesses that chose to open especially for market Sundays.
As a result of the drop in footfall and impact on businesses, it was decided that the market would relocate and move back to a Saturday as a pilot scheme.
Speaking about Saturday's market, owner Denise Valente said "The market on Saturday was a resounding success from all quarters.
"So many people stopped me to say how pleased they were with its return to Saturday and even more commented on how stunning the new location was,enabling much more freedom of movement and visibility.
"I have received numerous emails and telephone calls congratulating us on its success from retail shops, market traders and the public. In fact I have been totally amazed at the quantity and incredible overwhelming positivity of the responses.
"The number of stalls was less than we used to have when the market was on a Saturday on Grove Street, mainly due to the stipulations to maintain a uniform image to the road front which meant those traders that used to bring their own gazebos of all shapes and colours had to be incorporated into the main market. It was imperative that I maintained space between gazebos to allow access to the shops and so this determined the number we could accommodate. Despite these limitations, the result I feel delivered on every aspect that I had promised."
This new location is being monitored on a month by month basis by Cheshire East Council and Wilmslow Town Council. They will continue to gather feedback which will be taken into consideration when they determine what happens with the Artisan Market moving forward.
What do you think about the market moving back to a Saturday and the new location? Share your views via the comment box below.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Marred only by the atrocious parking all around- on pavements, yellow lines, junctions etc. and some of them weren't even in 4x4s. Ensure all unused office parking is available (more chance to be Wilmslow's best friend, Pete) and wardens are busily scuttling around.
As far as the traffic / parking was concerned, maybe it depended on what time you went as I did not go until just after lunch. No problems, no illegal parking that I could see, spaces behind Hoopers and in Broadway Meadow.
Well done Denise for persevering and long may it continue.
Congratulations to the perseverance of the organisers - and to the people who refused to let it die.
Perhaps the local council will take note?
I don't know about the traffic as I walked up to town I'm sure others could too. Walked over to Grove Street just to see what it was like and it certainly was quiet, but I think it is better in its new home. Well done for sticking at it Denise!
Full up car parks instead of half-empty ones are a sign of lots of customers coming to Wilmslow to spend their money.
Empty car parks and very popular shopping centers don't go together in the UK. You can have one or you can have the other, but not both.
So which is it to be?
Told you so. ;)
Well the comments above are pretty one-sided, as expected it was a huge success. So; no comments from our elected Cllrs either on WTC or CEC? Having spent £2k on the previous survey, which produced the wrong answer (if it produced any answer at all) can we assured that the "month by month" monitoring will not cost us anything and how to WTC and CTC propose to get feedback and from whom?