The purpose-built market hall within Manchester city centre’s £150 million Arndale Centre development offers regional and international food, including an extensive range of fruit, vegetables and flowers, alongside non-food stalls selling fashion and homeware.
Labelling the market a blueprint of what a council can achieve, Brian Garbett, Arndale market manager, is very proud of what Manchester City Council has created at the Arndale, but he admits that it is still having trouble getting customers into the centre.
“The challenge, now we have these wonderful stalls, is to drag the customers out of Selfridges,” says Garbett, who previously worked at Waitrose for 25 years. “The new displays and signage throughout the shopping centre have helped and the fruit and vegetables sell quite well because of the two-for-one offers.”
Manchester’s city centre has rapidly expanded since it fell victim to an IRA attack in 1996. As a result, the new Arndale Centre has been hugely successful and has experienced a weekly footfall of more than 100,000 people.
Fruit and veg retailer Strawberry Garden occupies a corner of the retail market, along with florist Ellamia. The business sources its produce from Produce Logistics European at the New Smithfield Wholesalers Market, and also supplies the Smoothies bar within the Arndale Food Market.Strawberry Garden has four units of the market and covers 36sqm. “I would like to give the stall more space,” says Garbett. “But there just isn’t the room. We try to make it look like an outdoor market and its layout attracts more people in from the walkway. We have allowed the stall to go over its area perimeter, when others are not allowed, as it gives the impression of a traditional market stall.”
Despite the location of the stall, Strawberry Garden is going from strength to strength. “Business is going really well,” says Nasarullah Raja, salesperson. “We get more and more customers everyday. People are concerned about buying local fruit and veg, and the quality we provide is very high. We also sell things like durian, which is very popular; but people mostly come to the store for our two-for-one offers.”
Mark Concannon, owner of new company Ellamia, sources his stock from Manchester Wholesale Flowers and has found that exotic flowers do a great trade within the city centre. “It’s only our first year here, but it’s already going really well and we are ahead of our forecasted turnover,” says Concannon. “We are finding that the same faces are coming back and we are getting a good deal of recommendations.”
“We are very proud of what we have done here,” says Garbett. “We would like to expand the project, but the problem is that once you do that you ruin what the market is. We have the diversity of an open-air retail market under just one roof.”
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