Shopping boost for Llanelli and Carmarthen

The tills rang out a bumper Christmas week in Llanelli and Carmarthen.
After the early December freeze and snow white-out, Carmarthen’s St Catherine's Walk Centre bounced back with a record footfall of 234,000 recorded between December 23rd-30th.
This smashed the previous record set on the opening weekend of the centre in April, 2010, of 206,000.
Llanelli’s St Elli Centre over the same Christmas week was up 15 per cent on the previous year to 159,000.
On Thursday 23rd December there were 36,950 shoppers and on Christmas Eve with a 4pm close of trade time, 32,254 shoppers passed through the electronic counters.
Both Llanelli and Carmarthen are bucking the national trend of falling footfall figures recorded by the Experian Footfall regional Index in shopping and retail centres.
Nationally, figures are shown to be 20.1 per cent down and Wales 15.4 percent down. Llanelli figures show an increase of 2.3 per cent with as much as 15 per cent increases on some Christmas shopping days.
Carmarthen St Catherine’s Walk centre, in its first full Christmas, set an exceptionally high standard which bodes well for the future with currently a 67 per cent let in the evolving centre with five more deals being struck including H&N and Phase8 Fashions, Bristol, opening soon.
St Catherine’s Walk Centre manager Mike Pugh said: “All our clients had an exceptional Christmas week which helped to make up for the difficulties the weather posed leading up Christmas.”
St Elli Shopping centre manager Andrew Stephens said all 22 units within the centre reported brisk trade in Christmas week.
He said: “There is a buzz about the town now especially with the announcement that the Eastgate development is now obstacle free to proceed and the mix of retail and leisure development planned it will help grow Llanelli’s appeal and extend it into the night.”
Mr Andrews said the centre’s letting agents were confident that two vacant units within the centre would be let by the spring restoring it to up to a maximum 24-unit centre for the first time in many years.
County executive board member for regeneration Cllr Clive Scourfield said: “Our county town’s certainly seem to be providing a Wow factor and I am becoming increasing encouraged to see the numbers of people shopping in them from Swansea and beyond.”

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