Visitors will always love Edinburgh but not for its shopping - Kevin Buckle

Debenhams in Princes Street has stood empty for three years. The store is now due to be converted into a first hotel in Scotland for luxury brand Zedwell

I always wondered what Edinburgh would be like if it was simply a summer holiday destination and there would be glimpses of how it might be in the last two weeks of July after the schools had finished but before the festivals started.

Depending on those school holidays there might also be a week at the start of September when there would be an influx of families, but generally those two weeks were the only window available to people wanting to visit without all the hoo-hah that goes along with Edinburgh’s festivals.

It wasn’t as if those two weeks were particularly cheap for accommodation, as such was the demand that hotels could charge their normal summer rates before hiking them up even further in August.

But now there is so much accommodation in Edinburgh in August because of all the new hotels and empty student accommodation blocks that I’ve been told by customers they were able to get a competitive rate even in August and even if booked quite late.

With even more hotels planned for Princes Street, Edinburgh Council needs to consider not only how the city centre will cope with all these extra visitors but also whether the way the festivals currently dominate their thinking is actually the way forward.

Certainly things were heading this way even before the pandemic, but without a doubt, like so many things in life now in a post-pandemic world, the dynamics in August are much different from just a decade ago.

Of course there is a similar issue in December when again more people are able to visit.

Edinburgh Council are heavily invested in attracting visitors with a Christmas Market and rides, but if truth be told, folk need little encouragement to visit at Christmas and New Year and they certainly aren’t bothered about a market that will be no different to one they can visit back home.

Visitors do like to come to Edinburgh for Christmas shopping and certainly that is never going to be at the Christmas Market.

However, with the St James Quarter being mostly brands that again visitors will know from back home and Princes Street now barely being a shopping street at all, while never disappointed with Edinburgh and its architecture, many do leave disappointed with its shops.

I’m amazed there are empty shops in Waverley Market, as while I know to my cost it is not a cheap place to be, it has the footfall shops need and people are certainly keen to buy if the right things are on offer.

Some folk have said to me that we are lucky in that record shops and in particular vinyl have shown a resurgence. But, for instance, Born In Scotland opposite Avalanche are also doing very well as a gift shop, offering something a little different and they are not the only ones.

For now it is a case of navigating to the end of the year and as always listening to what our customers want.