Happy Christmas? Not for these market traders
STALLHOLDERS at Derby's Christmas market say they have been disappointed by the small number of shoppers since they opened at the start of the month.
No advertising, a poor location and a lack of festive decorations have been blamed.
Traders paid hundreds of pounds in rent for a three-week pitch in Cornmarket.
But some say they have lost money because of the low footfall.
Since opening on December 1, around five traders have packed up their stalls because of a lack of business.
Mark Chambers, who sells hats and bags at MC Fashion, travelled from Birmingham for the market after he saw it being advertised on the internet. But he said he was losing £100 a day because so few customers were visiting his stall.
He said: "It's in the wrong location. If it was nearer Westfield then more people would visit. But later in the day, hardly anyone walks down this way."
The market was organised by Derby LIVE, with event co-ordinator Market Square Group, to try to lure shoppers back into the city instead of doing their festive shopping online.
All the stalls have been set up inside Victorian chalet-style sheds.
Randi Szakaly runs a Christmas stall selling decorations and wreaths.
She said she was disappointed that it had not been busy – but added that there was a wide range of products on sale for shoppers to browse at.
She said: "It is a bit disappointing that there are not more traders and that more of an effort wasn't made to make it look festive."
Emma Heywood, who runs organic skincare stall Eve of St Agnes, said the Christmas market was not "atmospheric".
She said: "The more stallholders there are, then the more atmosphere you get.
"It's not been great and it's not met my expectations because there's nothing to draw people this way – but when people do look at my stuff they think it's nice.
"I've seen Christmas markets in Oxford, Birmingham and in Nottingham and they always seem festive and busy. Do people want a Christmas market in Derby?
"There needs to be more going on. It was a big risk renting the stall but I wanted to because I'm from Derby and it's my local market."
And another trader, Danielle West, of cupcake company Cakeorium, said she thought it would be more festive.
"We were promised outside decorations and we got the impression that everybody was going to be grouped together, like a proper market, but instead we're all spaced out," she said.
"I thought it was going to be the biggest event of the year, at least for us as a small company.
"We thought it would be really busy. I know Derby isn't the busiest of cities but you'd have thought something like a Christmas market would have brought more people."
A spokeswoman for Derby LIVE said: "The Christmas Fayre is experiencing more difficulties, not least because of the challenging financial climate retail outlets are currently operating within.
"We will do everything we can, with Market Square Group, to address any concerns that the traders may have at this time."
No-one from Market Square Group was available to comment yesterday.
18 Comments
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by Andrew_Ilson
Thursday, December 22 2011, 1:46PM
“This is due to the downturn in the economy (particularly Derby) and Westfield.
Derby's centre of gravity is no longer the market place. Unless they plan on building another Westfield at the top of town it will stay that way.”
by be_ne
Tuesday, December 20 2011, 11:56AM
“Why doesn't the Council do something to make the Market Hall somewhere people like to shop. It's half empty - every time I go in, it seems another stall has closed. It should be the centre of the town, filled with exciting things to buy. Why can't we base it on Cork's English Market and have organic food stalls, local farmers selling fresh food, plus, please, let's also have a more hygenic fish market! The whole area should become a place we want to shop and the "Christmas" Market should be just that - about Christmas, not the unrelated items that are on sale now.”
by Gargloit
Tuesday, December 20 2011, 11:38AM
“Tat sold from pretty wooden cabins is still tat. Who wants to by cheap tat from a tat market when you can go to Westfields and buy some proper tat at inflated prices. The appetite for purchasing over priced rubbish in Derby appears to be insatiable.”
by onnhoj2010
Tuesday, December 20 2011, 11:08AM
“Sticking some tinsel up does not make it a 'Christmas market'. Most of the tat available is on sale at the same price or cheaper in the Guildhall or Eagle markets - plus you know where you can take it back if (when) you need to.
It's next to the ice rink, so they can hardly complain that there's nothing else in the area to attract punters. Sounds to me like these stallholders shelled out expecting to bring in a nice thick wedge of cash without any effort of their own. If those stallholders haven't go anything that people want to buy, they only have themselves to blame.”
by loginhere
Tuesday, December 20 2011, 10:55AM
“GlennTheBaker is right. And on his own by the look of it.”
by mark_sinfin
Tuesday, December 20 2011, 10:38AM
“it isn't a christmas market though is it? to many sheds selling **** brought in from wherehouses loads of cheaply made hats selling for a tenner a time, belts, african amimal carvings and people selly insense sticks out of tatty carboar boxes etc. the few stalls that are right for it seemed to be the beer stall, the one selling christmas decerations and the ones selling hot food. there is no one selling christmas food to take home for example of genuine handmade presents etc like you get at all other christmas markets. plus all the barriers around the tree, nativity scene and the waterfall make the area look like a building site.”
by SandyFoxy
Monday, December 19 2011, 9:05PM
“It wasn't much of a Christmas market - half a dozen stalls and most of them nothing to do with Christmas at all. I did buy from there but we only came across it be pure chance. Here's some ideas.
1. Advertise the markets (they have 'continental' markets through the year too - no signs directing people) - including signs IN the Westfield. Events throughout Derby should be advertised.
2. Have a proper Christmas market - or none at all.
3. Ensure they are open into the evenings - a condition of the stall fee.
4. Advertise the markets - oh, did I say that already? Well it is essential.
The city council (or whatever you call the folk responsible) should be duty bound to maximise the possible attendance at ALL Derby shopping opportunities. And if some areas are flagging - spend some of the city money improving those areas.”
by GlennTheBaker
Monday, December 19 2011, 6:35PM
“Despite the insistence of a select few (e.g. John Forkin, Martin Langsdale, Michael Hall), the so-called Cathedral Quarter is dead on its backside and has been ever since Derby City Council saw Westfield coming at them with fists full of cash (some of which was obviously stuffed into brown envelopes and handed out to certain decision-makers - how else would that huge, grey box have made it past the planning committee?), sold the soul of the city to them and condemned that end of the city to an inevitable death. The trouble is, it has now been 4 years+ since this happened and nothing has improved. The only idea the Council ever comes up with to improve trade in the area is to bung up a few market stalls - this has never proved to be successful and so it has proved again. Why on earth would placing wooden sheds in front of existing units improve trade for anyone?
Any retail area needs a primary retailer such as Debenhams or Marks & Spencer at it's core in order that smaller, secondary retailers and other outlets can then benefit from the natural footfall created. The Cathedral Quarter has no such primary retailer and, with Westfield owning the former Debenhams building, this does not look like changing in the forseeable future. I hope those who allowed Westfield to trample roughshod over Derby and shove all the big retailers in their monstrosity of a shopping mall, leaving the rest as a ghost town, are thoroughly pleased with themselves. I guess the sweeteners they received in those brown envelopes help them sleep at night.”
by spondon
Sunday, December 18 2011, 12:01PM
“Why would any temporary trader in a shed expect Derby folk to buy expensive tat from a stranger?”
by Purple_T
Saturday, December 17 2011, 7:56PM
“In Nottingham last weekend the market was thriving. The stalls are all together, there's a couple of fairground rides, hot food stalls etc.
In Nottingham of course, the market square links everywhere together. Since the coming of Wastefiled to Derby the North end of the city has become more of a dead zone. The Christmas Market is just spread out with no thought to how it could pull in customers. With the skating in the Market Place there could not be a decent market run in that area.
The Market Place used to be at the heart of the city centre, now it's more on the periphery. The empty shops and market hall stalls show just how bad it is now. Walking down Sadler Gate can be quite depressing nowadays, yet it used to be thriving.
All Derby really offers now is a copycat shopping mall run by a corporate giant :-(”