Lisa Rogers is the manager of the Grosvenor Shopping Centre, she took over the role in January of this year.

“I come from a fully fledged retail background” says Lisa. For 26 years she worked for Marks and Spencer, and prior to that worked in retail as a student in Edinburgh. “I loved retail so much, the interaction, supporting customers, driving sales. I’ve worked all over, Scotland, the North East, where I’m originally from. . When I worked for Marks and Spencer we launched a credit card and I worked at M&S Bank on the business park to support the launch. Chester has been my passion because its been my go to shopping area for 20 years”. She lives in Little Sutton with her husband and 3 daughters. She left M&S last April and spent the summer off supporting her eldest daughter through her exams, spending time with family and friends before focusing on a new career direction.

Reflecting on her shared passions for retail and for Chester, she says “I can see the transformation that’s happened in that time. I’ve always been a cheerleader from the side-lines and I wanted to be part of the game in Chester, so this was a perfect combination for me. I wanted to make a difference in the city that I work in and I shop in with my family!”

Lisa outlined her priorities for the future of the shopping centre. ” It would be wrong if there weren’t improvements, changes you could make. Most importantly its about understanding what the heart of the centre is. We have got an amazing group of retailers in here, real mix of high street names and independents.” The Centre is home to 51 businesses.

” We’re not just a shopping venue, we have Leonardo’s Hotel, we have Chef’s Table, we have 200 Degrees coffee, we have Eyemazy, we have watch repairs. We are far more than just shops. My first priority was understanding what’s important to the community in the centre and also what do our customers want to see in Chester. We will only be successful as the Grosvenor Shopping Centre if the rest of Chester is doing well , so we have a wider part to play in the city as well. Its been about understanding how I work with BID, getting to know figures in the council , its been brilliant because its a really welcoming city.”

“We know the landscape for retail and shopping centres has changed dramatically from all the things we know about with the pandemic, but it was already changing before that with online shopping. There is always a place for bricks and mortar but it might be in a slightly different format and we need to respond to how customers need want to shop, There will be changes and we are in the process of exploring that, there are some big things that customers talk about that we need to do to improve it for our customers. Many of which have been identified by your questions, its great to identify opportunities to improve the centre. What’s brilliant is that people do care passionately about what happens to the centre . We have seen how busy this centre has been, it will never go back to how it was but there are always opportunities to improve. We have hospitality in here, we have a florist, we are already more than retail, we have a car park on site that is so convenient to shop the centre. We have the beautiful St Michaels Row ( built 1910) which is wonderful to have as part of our armoury. I am excited about where we are now and there are some brilliant stories in the centre.”

A big criticism in recent years has been the loss of the toilets in the centre: “We are looking at ways to improve the centre, and clearly that’s been a big bit of feedback and that is definitely something we are working through in terms of the plan as to what that could look like.”

Since closure in May of 2021 Cestrians have debated the future of the much loved Browns of Chester building. Lisa replies that “I think that is such an iconic building in the city and its brilliant to see how passionate people are about it. Obviously we are looking at lots of opportunities to do something with that building. There are lots of things we are exploring..

Pop up activities in empty units is another issue I put to Lisa :

“What’s really interesting is if you look at the national average for empty units its about 20%, we are better than that at 15%. I think the challenge is that 3 of them happen to be grouped together opposite Costa. The brilliant thing is that we are using the space a bit differently. We have the University of Chester using it, we have pop up art galleries, giving people a real opportunity to share their work. Currently we have Beyond Retail in there (https://thechesterblog.com/2024/04/10/exhibition-explores-use-of-empty-retail-spaces/) and that’s about how we reuse some of these spaces. Pop ups are fantastic; if you look at Style Boutique on St Michaels row, they actually started as a pop up and they have actually just expanded into the unit next door. They are doing fantastic things, they do a live styling event every week online.”

Lisa says that events to drive footfall into the centre are key on the centre’s agenda. ” We have done a lot over the last 4- 5 weeks. The art is finding what works best for people. We had our most successful weekend over the Mothers Day weekend, and we had the Handcrafted Market in. We are going to do another 3 weekends throughout the rest of this year. We have just done our giant board game- that involved all our retailers in the centre. We have to learn what things work best for us. Comic con was amazing last year and we will be repeating that event this year. We are starting to look at our summer offering now to see what new events we can create and we will be getting involved in Pride in a much bigger way this year. Historically we have been able to support BID with the Santa’s grotto, Halloween and so on and we will continue to support this.”

With an ever increasing number of venues now dog friendly I asked Lisa if there were any plans to allow dogs into the centre. “It’s not a big one on the pad to be honest but we have started to get that feedback.”

Responding to further questions she says that the Piano which was in use before the pandemic may not come back but she is not ruling anything out. “I heard that it was successful! It was popular but its also about how we do different things as well and keep things moving and fresh.” On the closure of Millie’s Cookies she comments: “lease expiry, and all retail businesses look at where they have their presence and have to make their own decisions. “

The seating area is one area that is being looked at. “It is used from morning til close” Lisa notes. She also highlights the recent addition of InPost lockers- an affordable way of sending and returning parcels/ “There’s nowhere else in the city where we have these, I think Morrisons is the closest one. Another reason to come into the centre.

“We are working really hard on filling the empty units. Theres always a moving interest, things come up, negotiations take place. Its forever a moving feast really . Conversely other businesses look at where they’re at , leases expire and other businesses look at where they want to be. ”

Lisa is keen to highlight some recent success stories including refits in Costa and HMV. The HMV store was closed for 4 weeks. “They are getting really good feedback from customers, they have taken the window backs out of the shop and you can actually see into the shop. They have bands on pretty much every weekend.

“The Works moved from a small tight unit and took a bigger unit and provided a much better customer experience. We have All About you, they are an independent business. There are 3 entrance and exits into the city, on onto Pepper Street where you have all the dining options, including Piccolino which is part of the centre.”

For many people there memories of the centre dating back to the 1960s inform their modern opinions. Paddock row comes in for criticism having been filled with retailers in the 1990s, many of which no longer exist. “I get why people feel that” says Lisa. “We have to find a way to modernise that to provide what customers want. The future will be about having that clean safe but inspiring environment for our customers where they are able to get what they need, but that we also complement the rest of the city.”