[Help] County Mall Shopping Centre, Crawley - Opinions?

[Seagull58]

As others have said, you should take a look at Horsham in and around Swan Walk. Horsham housing has massively expanded in recent years. The development by Tescos is over 1,200 houses and they are still developing on the east side into the green barrier between Horsham and Crawley. I believe the Horsham locals are now considering tank traps and remote-controlled RPGs to keep the Crawley chavs away.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

I guess it depends on your business and the type of clientele / income bracket you are aiming for.

Horsham is a nicer place to visit, good variety of shops - independent and chains and the same with restaurants in the central area which is quite compact and also level if that impact your potential customers.

With the surrounding towns and villages there is a lot of 'old money' but then it also has a lot of new builds with a younger demographic so a decent mix. It is probably quicker and easier to get into Horsham from the new developments along the A264 as it is getting into Crawley.

Not too many vacant shop units at the moment which is a good sign and also a nice redevelopment of Piries Place just been completed.

Living on the coast, I rarely visit Crawley now as County Mall is a shadow of its former self and the town centre is not attractive whereas we probably head up to Horsham once a month as parking is okay (usually use John Lewis/Waitrose) and it is generally a nice place to visit. My impression is that there is nothing in Crawley I can't find elsewhere

Good luck in your new venture.

 

[Knocky's Nose]

It's all about footfall, nothing else. Initial target clientele is 18-25 years old, then 25-45 once the business matures.

Horsham has a population of 50,000, whereas Crawley has 114,000. It's purely a numbers game.

Tunbridge Wells town centre (at the top, near the shopping centre) was utterly dead the three times I went up on 'recon' visits, so affluence seems to mean little. Tunbridge Wells population is about 56,000 by the way.

This is 100% about Crawley at the moment, nowhere else.

 

[Pondicherry]

I work in Crawley (but thankfully live in Horsham). Don't visit the town center much but when I do the outside parade that leads down to Queen's Square always seems much busier than County Mall itself (someone else mentioned this earlier). The Queen's Square area has been developed a bit in the last few years. Overall the area is not as bad as you might imagine.

 

[FamilyGuy]

What Crawley really needs is either a Subway or Fried Chicken emporium.

We've got a brand new Taco Bell

 

[Tom Bombadil]

As others have said, you should take a look at Horsham in and around Swan Walk. Horsham housing has massively expanded in recent years. The development by Tescos is over 1,200 houses and they are still developing on the east side into the green barrier between Horsham and Crawley. I believe the Horsham locals are now considering tank traps and remote-controlled RPGs to keep the Crawley chavs away.

Well they have enough chavs of their own

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Having been to Tunbridge Wells recently i was shocked how dead it was, considering it used to draw in shoppers from a lot of the neighbouring small towns. It does seem to be reflective of many previosuly popular shopping centres though, the internet has done a job on many places.

 

[Marty___Mcfly]

Crawley peaked when ‘Madhouse’ was on the first floor- perfect for some NAF NAF gear, pop down to Athena for a poster then nip out the Mall to C&A for a new ski jacket with a stop off at Maccies.

Forget about Debs closing, the day Madhouse closed was the game changer.

 

[Dick Head]

Further away from open water?



Daft buggers.

But closer to the anchor stores.

 

[Eric the meek]

It's all about footfall, nothing else. Initial target clientele is 18-25 years old, then 25-45 once the business matures.

Horsham has a population of 50,000, whereas Crawley has 114,000. It's purely a numbers game.

Tunbridge Wells town centre (at the top, near the shopping centre) was utterly dead the three times I went up on 'recon' visits, so affluence seems to mean little. Tunbridge Wells population is about 56,000 by the way.

This is 100% about Crawley at the moment, nowhere else.

It might be worth getting a hand tally counter, standing in a few places where you think the footfall will be, and keeping a tally as your target demographic walks past.

This is no time to make assumptions. A few hours of boredom might turn out to be the best planning you do.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Thank you SO much for all your replies. I really appreciate them.

Very insightful and exactly what I was looking for, good and bad. I genuinely mean that.

Keep them coming!

Good luck with it. I hope you make the right choice. I lived in the centre when my missus (long since scattered among the exes) was manage of Elliots (shoe shop). We lived above and I worked for a while in a nearby pub (frequented by Minton's dad and other nasty pieces of work). The whole town centre then was vile and chavvy, with soppy NF skins harrassing Asian mums with their kids. I paid the place a visit 10 years ago and it was hugely nicer. County Mall wasn't built when I lived there and I thought it was fantastic. Didn't buy anything but I liked the ambience. If I lived near there I'd deffo shop there.

A couple of other options for you.

Canterbury high street. Massive footfall, albeit a lot of it is 'touristic'. What you're selling may not fit. Loadsa money down there though.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...47df036952529f8c!8m2!3d51.2786189!4d1.0809621

'Designer Outlet Ashford'. It is always HEAVING. Masses of parking, very good traffic access, and may suit your line very well.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.1...355.60938&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i13312!8i6656

 

[vegster]

A while back I worked on a shop in Crawley for 18 months..I'm that time the manager of the nearby Burger King got robbed at knife point one evening for the days takings, a newsagent got done for a set up inside job robbery, a man had his throat cut and died outside one of the kebab shops and my car had its window smashed in and the stereo stolen.
Every Monday morning there was little piles of glass around the car park by the cinema/Bowling alley where cars had been done at the weekend. That was a while back though.

 

[Motogull]

I think central T Wells has suffered because of the North Farm development even though that is horrible. Maidstone has a busier feel but there is a similar satellite thing going on. M&S have moved out of town centre there.

 

[Stat Brother]

A while back I worked on a shop in Crawley for 18 months..I'm that time the manager of the nearby Burger King got robbed at knife point one evening for the days takings, a newsagent got done for a set up inside job robbery, a man had his throat cut and died outside one of the kebab shops and my car had its window smashed in and the stereo stolen.
Every Monday morning there was little piles of glass around the car park by the cinema/Bowling alley where cars had been done at the weekend. That was a while back though.

It would appear to have improved considerably since you left.


Anything to want to tell us?

 

[tricky]

I shop at Guildford, Redhill and Crawleys malls - I would say Crawley is not as busy on a saturday as Guildford, but Guildford's mall is generally rammed with teenagers whereas Crawley is more families with young kids - so a different demographic. I don't mind any of them - a mall is a mall - and crawley's is clean and not filled by people just hanging around and socialising.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

Had a few good nights in The Brewery Shades, this was 1985 mind

 

[pure_white]

CM has relegated itself from championship to league 1, looks depressing unoriginal and agree with other comments more traffic outside. Parking there much cheaper than Churchill square, but for a reason too. How about Horsham? A championship shopping experience more upmarket, hung around championship a while now, or take a complete punt on ghost town Burgess Hill and maybe next century the brand new spanking shopping centre will open alongside its growing population. But do you want a season ticket in non-league? Lastly there is promotion chasing league 1 town Eastbourne with its expanded Arndale. A mix of money riches and rags you might get more for your money there.

 

[The Clamp]

More peaceful alternative than Brighton and busy enough. All under one roof.’

 

[Knocky's Nose]

Very quickly - just a genuine 'Thank You' to all who contributed to this thread. It's a big thing for me, and I really appreciate the input.

I'm going up there tomorrow to finish my little 'report' - and I've included many of your comments in it.