Retail park considers 24-hour opening after festive success

Published on Saturday 19 January 2008 10:10

A 24-HOUR retail park could be on the cards for Edinburgh next Christmas.

After successfully piloting all-night shopping at one of its biggest individual stores over the festive season, Fort Kinnaird is now planning to open up its other stores through the night.

Bosses at the shopping park are to hold talks with stores on extended opening hours and through-the-night shopping.

They say that the Marks & Spencer store, which opened continuously from 7am on December 21 until 5pm on Christmas Eve, helped it achieve a big increase in trading over the festive period.

Liam Smith, Fort Kinnaird's centre manager, believes adapting opening hours is the only way to meet the demands of consumers.

He said: "We all know the threat the internet is posing, so we have to tailor things like opening hours to what the consumer is after.

"With people's working lives more flexible than ever we need to be flexible too, so we can be open for whenever they finish work.

"If you work a nightshift, backshift or dayshift it can make it difficult to get your Christmas shopping. From the retail side as well, some people would prefer to work nights for different reasons, such as they have kids they need to look after."

Talks on opening hours next Christmas are expected to take place with traders including Gap, Borders, Argos, Currys and Sports World, in February and March.

As well as the round-the-clock M&S, all stores at Fort Kinnaird agreed to open two hours extra, until 10pm, for the month running up to Christmas.

The different approach to opening hours helped the park achieve a six per cent increase in shopper numbers compared to the previous year, with 1.8 million shoppers flocking to the site in the space of four weeks.

There was also an eight per cent increase in shoppers in the week leading up to Christmas.

In a survey carried out by the centre in advance of Christmas, one fifth of shoppers said they would visit more frequently if the park was open later.

Looking at the possibility of 24-hour shopping, Mr Smith said: "It would be something we will be suggesting. Year-on-year comparisons are the key and we will consider approaching stores to see who is willing to go 24 hours.

"It's about giving consumers what they want. If people are willing to shop at a certain time stores need to match that trend."

Although many supermarkets now open for 24 hours, most already have staff operational overnight even when they are closed. But retailers do not usually employ overnight staff, making it more costly for them to open at quiet times.

Although he said no employee should be forced to work through the night, Graham Bell, of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "People want to be able to shop at a time suitable to them. A business willing to open at times more convenient to shoppers is more likely to be successful. It is very worthwhile in a city with a major population concentration like Edinburgh to consider this type of approach."