Customers and shopkeepers at Quayside shopping centre are left saddened due to the dying high street.
It is hard to imagine that this was the destination for families, tourists, and Salford locals not so long ago.
Now walking around Quayside shopping centre, you notice the cold, the derelict storefronts, the lack of shoppers.
Shoppers have taken to TripAdvisor to express their disappointment in what the shopping centre has now become, leaving one-star reviews on the site.
Julie S, said:
“Don’t bother going… Empty shop after empty shop, freezing cold and none clean what a waste of a trip and parking fee…”
Paugle21, said,:
“Waste of time,
What a disaster! The outlet was dead and dirty, hardly any shops and everywhere was freezing.
No heating, nobody about, there were more people in Costa than the building.”
Customers are actively complaining about the quality of the shopping centre, whether it be the parking or cleanliness of the premise.
What has even more customers disheartened is the steep decline in available shops at the centre, over 30 of the lots at quayside are empty due to store closures, this is most noticeable upstairs.
This is what customers had to say.
The shoppers’ concerns are echoed by the empty storefronts which dominate the area. For the businesses that remain such as M&S, Next, Cadburys, it leaves very little for Salford locals to stay excited about.
However, it is not only the customers who are feeling the decline in the shopping centres retail sector, I spoke with some of the shopkeepers at Quayside. This is what they had to say:
The struggle is reflected in a much wider retail crisis. According to the Centre for Retail Research, the UK lost almost 13,500 stores in 2024. This was an average of 37 stores a day, making it a 28% rise from the previous year.
This may be a result of retail shifting online, the Office for National Statistics report that one in every four pounds spent in retail is now spent online.
However, those who are elderly and not familiar with being online, or rather those in the local area who prefer retail shopping. The depleting retail market in Salford leaves them behind.
The contrast is striking, with a vibrant 2030 vision on the way for the area; new homes, public spaces, and plans to expand the cultural scene. She shopping centre appears stagnant amongst the major redevelopment in the surrounding areas.
