Eagles Meadow in Wrexham attracts record 3 million shoppers in 2012

A shopping centre is celebrating after breaking through the three million barrier for the number of shoppers in a year.

The bumper Christmas helped Eagles Meadow in Wrexham set a new annual footfall record for the popular centre.

The modern retail complex has created more than 1,000 extra jobs in the town since it opened in the teeth of the recession in 2008.

Among those to benefit from the extra shoppers was the growing fashion jewellery chain, Mococo.

They were among seven new arrivals at Eagles Meadow last year when they opened their sixth store – in addition to their outlets in Ruthin, Mold, Chester, Tarporley and Liverpool – at the centre in the summer.

Manager Suzanne Bartley said: “We were immediately busy when we opened in June last year.

“Our loyal Mococo customers found us and they were blown away by how gorgeous the new store is and of course we have new customers as well from Wrexham and the surrounding area.

“Eagles Meadow is a fabulous shopping centre, we just love it.  Instead of travelling to Shrewsbury and Chester, people have been coming here because it’s on their doorstep.

“The period leading up to Christmas was really, really busy so I’m not surprised the centre broke the footfall record in 2012.

“There are some fabulous stores here like Debenhams, Marks and Spencer, River Island and Top Shop.

“You have all the favourite high street brands at Eagles Meadow along with a great selection of independent stores, so it’s a magical retail mix. It makes the shopping more interesting.

“On top of that you’ve got the restaurants, the cinema and Tenpin bowling so you can make a day out of it. You can  go shopping, have lunch and see a movie so it’s great.

“And at £6 for the day, the parking here is much cheaper than it is in Chester.

“As well as our established favourites like Pandora, our designers are evolving. We have introduced Clogau gold jewellery and Fossil watches which are proving extremely popular.”

Matthew Langwine, the manager of outdoor specialists Trespass, was also a happy man.

He said: “We have been doing really well and hitting all our like for like figures and beating targets.

“The skiing season has started now and we have got a number of schools going on skiing trips.”

“Eagles Meadow is getting better known now and shoppers are coming from farther afield. Things are really positive and we’re looking forward to 2013.”

Eagles Meadow Manager Kevin Critchley is delighted at the record increase in the number of shoppers in 2012.

He said: “Last year saw the pedestrian counts exceed three million for the first time ever, and we ended the year with a figure of more than 3,150,000.

“Week 51, from December 17 to 23, was the highest pedestrian flow count we have ever had in a single week

“It registered as 89,076, which beat the previous highest of 76,054 by 13,022 or 17 per cent.

“Boxing Day was massive. We had 2,000 people queuing for the Next sale that started at 6am and bargain hunters also took advantage of the big reductions at the likes of Debenhams, River Island, Bank, Wallis and Top Shop, Top Man, Burtons and Dorothy Perkins.

“The outstanding performance in terms of footfall certainly bucks the trend across much of the UK.

“It is a good indication I think of the gains and growth we have made over the last few years.

“Eagles Meadow has now firmly established itself as the top retail destination in North Wales and the increase in footfall has underlined our reputation as the region’s shopping capital.”