A shopping centre that defied the recession and created 1,000 new jobs in Wrexham is celebrating its fifth birthday.<\/p>\n
Local AM Lesley Griffiths hailed Eagles Meadow as a \u00a3165 million a year retail powerhouse.<\/p>\n
She joined centre manager Kevin Critchley to help celebrate the milestone which opened in October 2008 when the UK was in the grip of the worldwide credit crunch.<\/p>\n
Since then the number of shoppers who go there every year has risen by 500,000 to more than three million annually.<\/p>\n
The AM, who is also the Minister for Local Government and Government Business in the Welsh Government, said: \u201cIt\u2019s great to be here to celebrate Eagle\u2019s Meadow\u2019s fifth birthday. It\u2019s hard to believe that it\u2019s been five years already.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do now think that it\u2019s very much become an accepted part of the town. It\u2019s become part of the fabric of the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the stores have been here from the beginning. We\u2019ve also seen some new businesses come in, and some independent businesses which is really good to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt brings people in from the surrounding area. Not long ago I was speaking to somebody who\u2019d come here all the way from Bala.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the shopping powerhouse of North Wales.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt provides a 1,000 of jobs for local people and brings in a huge amount of wealth for the town. Shoppers spend more than \u00a3165 million a year at the centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a real boon for the town. I think we were very lucky to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Griffiths also praised Eagles Meadow\u2019s track record for being environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cIt\u2019s got very strong green credentials. They recycle 92 per cent of their waste which is just fantastic. The Welsh Government recycling target is 52 per cent so when you put it in that context it\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n
\u201cEagles Meadow is really leading the way on this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWrexham Council have done a lot of good work around getting their recycling figure up, so it\u2019s helping to turn Wrexham into a very green town.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manager Kevin Critchley was very grateful to the AM for finding the time to join the birthday celebrations.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cEagles Meadow has defied the conventional wisdom and not only survived but thrived during a difficult economic climate.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re still going strong. We\u2019re still attracting customers, and we\u2019re still attracting tenants and retailers.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of it is a good mix of shopping that we\u2019ve got here. I think without Eagles Meadow Wrexham as a town would not have such a strong shopping offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is highly unlikely if not impossible that there would be a Debenhams in Wrexham without Eagles Meadow.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if we had a Marks and Spencer it would be a smaller branch, or it would have migrated out of the town centre. In addition there are a number of other retailers who would not be in Wrexham were Eagles Meadow not here.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne reason I think we\u2019ve thrived so much is that we\u2019re actually complementing the whole offer within the town rather than trying to compete with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things we looked at very early is that there were a lot of people from Wrexham who went out to shop in Chester, or in Shrewsbury or points north of that. We\u2019re a reason why they don\u2019t have to do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t have to spend the petrol and the time travelling elsewhere. Just come into town. There\u2019s plenty on offer here. We\u2019ve got retail offers that you only get in larger cities normally.”<\/p>\n