It’s not an easy time to be a shopkeeper. Hamstrung by the squeeze on consumer spending and grasping for customers thanks to the rise of internet shopping, the traditional high street-based retailer always seems to be facing crisis.

So there must be something unusual about Shrewsbury.

Why else would property developers want to plough £150 million into transforming its shopping centre? Why else would hotels and supermarkets be clamouring to get a foot in the door of a modestly-sized market town?

The town centre’s future is set to change in so many ways in the next few years – but is Shrewsbury ready for the investment coming its way?

Is there enough money to go around all the independent shops which already exist in the town, once another big chain department store lands in their midst? How will adding to the capacity of a relatively small town’s centre improve its ability to spread wealth among its shopkeepers?

Shropshire councillor Mike Owen has warned that Shrewsbury has been affected by the financial ill-health of the country as a whole, yet the new plans involve increasing footfall throughout the town centre by as much as 50 per cent – partly using the recent marketing campaign launched to promote the town.

According to Andy Evans, the council’s manager for business growth and prosperity, Shrewsbury’s compact size means that no part of the town is likely to benefit more than another from new developments.

Change, he says, is necessary to keep footfall within the confines of the centre.

“If you do nothing, the town will degenerate,” he said. “Something has to be done. This new scheme will provide the modern retailing environment that occupiers in the centre require.

“Compared to Shrewsbury, Chester is performing badly, with a lot of void units and their scheme faltering. That hasn’t happened here, there’s confidence in the town from the private sector developers moving forward with their schemes.”

As well as the 95,000 sq ft Debenhams, the New Riverside development will include 50 new shops and 10 restaurants, with space for national retailers who have so far been unable to find a store which can be adapted to their own needs in the town.

The thought occurs, though, that there simply isn’t enough money to go around these traders, while allowing the existing independent stores for which shopping in Shrewsbury is known to flourish.

Mr Evans said: “Many towns and cities have moved their centre of gravity, but Shrewsbury is compact enough to ensure that doesn’t happen.

“If there wasn’t the ability to redevelop the shopping centre, in planning terms that development would have gone out of town and that would have killed the town centre. This being in the town safeguards it, stops the leakage and brings footfall in.

"The Tescos of the world are limited in what they can stock compared to the likes of Debenhams, so the comparison goods are still there. If they wanted to go out of town, our planning policy is very robust in saying no.”

What about the shopkeepers themselves – are they concerned about the impact of the Riverside? Dave Thomas, who runs Snooty Fox jewellers in Wyle Cop, isn’t.

He said: “Footfall isn’t bad down here, but that’s because there are no empty shops, and lots of boutiques. Visitors say they can go to Marks & Spencer at home.

“I’m not convinced footfall will get pulled away from Wyle Cop from the new centre. Visitors come because of the independent shops, not for Pride Hill or the Darwin Centre.” But he added: “It would be stupid not to at least think about moving there when it opens. We are an established business but if all the footfall was drawn there, at the end of the day I’m here to make money.”

For Seref Ibrahim, manager of Inocencia clothing store in Castle Street, the new Premier Inn beside the entrance to the New Riverside in Smithfield Road is the most exciting proposition, giving more visitors the chance to stay in the town centre.

He said : “It will get a big tourist footfall. If people see more footfall, the town will be more appealing to them.”

Shrewsbury will by no means be the first town of its size to build a new development to reinvigorate its trade. The key to successfully drawing in shoppers, says Sarah Cordey from the British Retail consortium, seems to very much mirror what is taking place in Shrewsbury.

She said: “Our experience generally accepts that where you have a big flagship store it does a very good job of generating extra footfall for all other retail units in the area. Other shops will compete to be neighbouring units as they benefit from being in close proximity.

"When you’re bringing new businesses into town, you’d hope there’s an opportunity to market other parts of town to tourists and people from neighbouring towns.

“A willingness to invest in a big shopping development is a sign of confidence in the economic future of that town, and that investment should attract other spending, and create jobs, meaning there’s more money moving around the local economy, which can drive regeneration of some town centre areas.

"The important thing is it is reflected in the quality of the parking available, and that people don’t feel they are being taken advantage of. People getting in their car and choosing where to go have a number of options. If you offer the right affordable, high quality parking you are likely to be a higher choice.”

Ah yes, the parking. Look at comments section below online stories about Shrewsbury shopping on the Shropshire Star website, and you realise people really are concerned about this. But for the council’s business and enterprise manager Mark Pembleton, the issue is overstated.

“Parking in Shrewsbury is good value compared to other towns,” he said. “But we are doing other inventive things to increase that value. Over the course of eight weeks we will make it £1 in Frankwell car park on certain days, but we are talking to retailers and saying the challenge for you is to open up so there’s things to see and do on those days.”

Shrewsbury Shopping Centres manager Kevin Lockwood agrees local business owners must do all they can to treat the New Riverside as an opportunity, not a threat.

He said: “We have independents in the centre, and we welcome them. We are not just about attracting high street names – all our cafes are independent, as is our hair salon and some of the fashion shops.”

He added: “You will have heard local hoteliers say a new Premier Inn will drive people away, but if you improve the visitor experience there will be more visitors coming to take up those rooms.

“Independents need to look at how they operate, to open their eyes. We are not going to be sleepy Shrewsbury, we are going to be awake and independent shops can help themselves by taking part. Things are happening, and in the next four or five years Shrewsbury will blossom.”