I usually visit the Metro Centre on the banks of the Tyne at Dunston once every leap year. So when I accompanied Mrs NI there the other week it was my first visit since before Covid.
The first thing I noticed was the number of empty shops since I was last there. I’m not talking single units but the vast Debenhams store that had a footprint the size of our village and other large High Street retailers. The food court and cinema complex were buzzing, but elsewhere the centre had an eerie silence.
It is of course one vast heated greenhouse and you can happily wander around in shorts and a T shirt in January.
Light bulb moment 💡
Not original though. I have since read about redundant shopping malls on the continent being converted into fruit and vegetable growers markets.
As retailers quit the town centres and malls to trade online it’s certainly something to consider.
