Innovating Shop-fronts

By jmitchell27 | Thursday, March 04, 2010, 11:30

One or two users have recently pointed out the rather sorry state of the shop fronts in Thornbury, well only yesterday my mind was brought back to this topic when I made a small visit to Dursley.

For a little over a year now Dursley has been making the most of their empty shops with a new project called 'On View' in which art work by local artists is presented in a temporary gallery in unused shop-fronts. By doing this local artists benefit from displaying their work without being charged, the town benefits from having something other than an empty to shop to look at, and the buildings are even improved on as the artists are obliged to re-paint and renovate the shop-front (with council funding).

I found an article from last year (which can be viewed here), in which Dursley councillor Jon Martin said:

"It's a big risk for someone to come along and set up a business in a row of empty shops.

"But once that row of shops is full, albeit of art, then it's drawing people and businesses to that area."

Luckily Thornbury will have some new shops opening soon, but I think the continued presence of empty shops should be addressed, and a solution like 'On View' is the sort of innovation that we should consider adopting locally.

What do you think can be done to improve the state of our shop fronts in Thornbury? Do you think things are fine as they are? Have your say here.

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Comments

This one does keep coming back! But there's not much initiative being shown locally. The Santa Grotto was good though, in my opinion, not very attractively presented from the outside. There is a poster for the film society in one window but couldn't the centre management try a bit harder?
For example, there's a potter in Thornbury who does some nice stuff, but I've never seen it elsewhere than at his premises. Why not allow him to display in a shop? I'm sure there are others who would appreciate somewhere to set up.

By StanMor at 00:49 on 07/01/11
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News of how temporary use could be made of vacant retail units, in tandem with the display of works by local artists, was a significant article in the Society section of today's Guardian. In Handsworth a local voluntary group converted an empty shop into a temporary tearoom, and artists from the community were invited to display their work. So it took the Dursley experiment (as referred by jmitchell27, 4 March 2010) one stage further, in that the public's engagement with art was not remote, as window shoppers, but sociable, as sharers of a same convivial environment.
Guardian article
http://tinyurl.com/3y2bfdz
Hyperlocal news site
http://tinyurl.com/3673mac
Local group
http://tinyurl.com/32pusng

By Bland_Media at 22:23 on 05/01/11
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A good point I will contact the St Marys Centre Manager to see if any thing can be done.

By Trucks79 at 20:48 on 09/08/10
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i just spotted this item (shows how easy it is to miss something) and thought it tied in nicely with recent items regarding empty shops and need for innovation. As well as using local artists why not commission work from the schools - nothing like a public showing to encourage artistic flair. Can this idea be put to the St Marys Centre management, Chamber of trade or whoever represents most empty shops?

By StanMor at 19:09 on 08/08/10
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It seems plans in Yate are moving forward to have two restaurants replace some empty shops in the town. However, I'd say Thornbury already has a pretty strong night time economy based around restaurants and pubs, so this isn't necessarily the answer for us.

By jmitchell27 at 12:26 on 12/03/10
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