Shot in the arm for empty Shrewsbury shops
Empty shops in Shrewsbury's Riverside could soon be filled by local businesses after a Shropshire company signed a deal to try to give a boost to the economy.
Shrewsbury-based firm Imagematch has joined forces with Mayor Jon Tandy in the hope of creating a social enterprise at the empty shopping complex.
Director Mark Gibson has just received the keys and project Phoenix will see his company take up its tenure until March 2017.
It is a stop-gap solution to delays to the new Riverside scheme, which is planned to compete as a regional shopping destination with Telford, where parts of the £250 million Southwater development will open this month.
Imagematch hopes it can at least help solve the problem of the empty centre in the short term. It says it will create a social enterprise that could see 24 empty shops filled.
The move comes as Councillor Tandy said he wanted to give a final boost to business in his last few months in office.
He said: "I've always been focused on business, so to think that the keys have been handed over is so exciting. I don't want to see the Riverside lie empty while it waits to be redeveloped and the owners shared my vision and have been very supportive of the idea.
"I wanted to help people in Shrewsbury start their own businesses and to give everyone who wants the chance to become self-employed the opportunity to see if they can sell and if they can grow.
"Everyone walks through the Riverside from the car parks and the bus station, and I'm determined to make sure it can be a bright and vibrant place."
For director Mark Gibson the project is a chance to help the local economy.
He said: "Project Phoenix is very apt because this is about bringing Riverside out of the ashes.
"We help the long-term unemployed to get back into work by coming up with new ideas and one of the things we have been keen to do is to help people become self employed.
"That has fitted in very well with the ethos here at the the Shrewsbury Shopping Centres and if we can create new business opportunities and encourage some of our people to start their own businesses then we can create more employment .
"We hope to get the first business open next week and while we know new Riverside is going to happen, in the mean time lets make use of the area and give the long term unemployed the chance to find out if retailing is for them."
