With every passing announcement of the latest closure, nails are being hammered into the coffin of Croydon’s sadly declining Whitgift Centre.
Next nail in the coffin: Superdry in the Whitgift Centre is running a 50% off closing down sale
The latest exit is that of Superdry, the shop selling the premium British fashion brand that occupies a large, prestige site overlooking the central square.
Once Unit 153-155 of the Croydon shopping centre empties of Superdry, loyal customers will face a trek to Oxford Street, or to Kingston or Bromley, to try on the casualwear and 100% organic cotton jeans for which the brand is famous.
The store is currently operating a 50% off closing down sale – not unlike much of Croydon’s town centre shopping area, it seems.
The closure of Superdry follows Monsoon, Sainsbury’s and Body Shop among some of the premium brands to have quit Croydon’s once-renowned shopping centre.
“I’m surprised that the store persisted as long as it has, to be honest,” one erstwhile customer noted on social media.
“Footfall in Whitgift must be basically zero at this point. The only reason to go in is to walk to the bus stops on the main road.”
And another resident noted: “It’s a crying shame what has happened, really didn’t have to be that way at all.
“They’ve ripped the heart out of North End.”
It was in 2012 that Westfield were announced as the favoured developers of the Whitgift Foundation, the property company with charitable status which owns the shopping centre and large tracts of the town centre.
Everything must go: Superdry is the latest prestige brand to give up on Croydon
That original £1billion scheme was supposed to have been completed by 2017. But nothing has ever been delivered – apart from devastating development blight to Croydon town centre.
Westfield, now based in Paris as part of Unibail Rodamco Westfield, are now working on a new “masterplan” – their third for the area in 12 years – which has shifted its focus from retail to residential.
At least 3,000 flats are expected to be built on the site of the Whitgift Centre, with a bit of retail and the odd leisure facility or restaurant here or there. But that could take at least 15 years to complete, according to Westfield. So a development first announced 13 years ago now won’t be completed before 2050 – a 38-year-long saga. At least.
Croydon’s useless Mayor, Jason Perry, has championed two “meanwhile” uses of the long-vacant Allders store, close to where Superdry is about to close. But neither of Perry’s projects have yet amounted to anything.
Using parts of the former department store as a venue for “immersive” theatre from the millionaire founder of the Secret Cinema was quickly abandoned, depite being waved through the planning process by the Tory Mayor.
As an alternative, the best that Westfield and the council have come up with is seven “kiosks” in the Allders building – including yet more fast food outlets. But it was almost a year ago that this latest scheme was announced, and there has been nothing said more recently about any possible opening date, leaving large parts of North End closed off behind hoardings.
Read more: Perry’s council endorses scheme for 3,000 flats in town centre
Read more: Westfield boss says Croydon scheme could take 15 more years
Our 2014 warning: Council’s in a hole, and yet they still keep on digging
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