Deluge of snow hits North Yorkshire traders (From York Press)
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Deluge of snow hits North Yorkshire traders
8:19am Wednesday 6th January 2010 in News
York Designer Outlet
THE deluge of snow which has fallen on North Yorkshire has dealt a huge blow to traders.
Stores across the region were hoping for a bumper start to the new year as they slashed prices – but the bad weather has left them counting the cost as school closures and travel problems left many people confined to their homes, unable to search stores for cut-price deals.
Freezing conditions led to one of York’s largest shopping centres closing its doors yesterday, meaning disappointment for consumers who braved the icy weather to visit York Designer Outlet, near Fulford.
“Due to extreme weather conditions, we took the decision to close York Designer Outlet on Tuesday,” said the centre’s manager, Louise Wilcock.
“This was a precautionary measure due to snow and our main concern is for the safety of our customers and staff and ensuring that we keep them protected.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and will let shoppers know when the centre is reopening.”
Susie Cawood, the York head of Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, said the weather had affected all businesses, not just those in York centre, and had been “hugely detrimental” to some firms.
She said: “Due to the number of closed schools, a lot of people have had to make alternative childcare arrangements and stay at home. It leads to less people being in work, which obviously has an impact on business.
“The snow has a knock-on effect for everybody and it is a big disappointment in the first week back after the Christmas and New Year break. We have got to get on with it as best we can.”
But the blizzards have brought good news for one firm – a spokeswoman for Halfords, based in Foss Islands Road, said it had seen a fivefold increase in sales of snow chains, which are attached to the wheels of vehicles to improve their grip.
The store has also registered a 22 per cent leap in the number of sleeping bags bought by motorists, as well as an increase in sales of screenwash, de-icer and scrapers.
Comments(9)
Sawday2
says...
9:10am Wed 6 Jan 10
idlehousewife
says...
9:22am Wed 6 Jan 10
Henry Swanson
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10:37am Wed 6 Jan 10
leninwasright
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11:59am Wed 6 Jan 10
Garrowby Turnoff
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12:29pm Wed 6 Jan 10
tcrown
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6:25pm Wed 6 Jan 10
Guy Fawkes wrote:I wonder what manufacturing business you mean? The region and, in fact, the UK as a whole, is now mostly service industry dominated. As retail is a major service sector, loss of business means a potential threat to that business and therefore jobs. The weather is also a potential threat to York's largest industry, i.e. tourism. Thankfully, this is normally quiet in January anyway, so the snow is not having such a bad impact on this vital job provider and supporter of the local economy. Perhaps you could explain your position more fully?
An article in Sunday's Telegraph stated that the use of snow chains on UK roads is illegal. I suppose there's nothing illegal about Halfords selling them (e.g. for use by people driving on private land or to the continent), but it's a case of watching out for another bout of police revenue-raising from motorists over this one, I guess. If loss of a mid-week day's trade or two in a shopping centre that sells almost exclusively luxury, discretionary goods is a 'huge blow' to the regional economy, it just goes to show how unbalanced and dysfunctional that economy is. Personally I'd be far more concerned about manufacturing businesses being ordered to reduce their power usage, just as we need to produce and export everything they can make to help us out of the recession.
Guy Fawkes
says...
6:30pm Wed 6 Jan 10
I agree - we've let our manufacturing industry, and our service industries than bring in revenue rather than export it, decline to such an extent that we're in this predicament. My point was that we shouldn't have got ourselves to such a vulnerable place whereby if the Designer Outlet has to close for a weekday in January, it's potentially a threat to jobs.
Guy Fawkes
says...
6:33pm Wed 6 Jan 10
I agree - we've let our manufacturing industry, and our service industries than bring in revenue rather than export it, decline to such an extent that we're in this predicament. My point was that we shouldn't have got ourselves to such a vulnerable place whereby if the Designer Outlet has to close for a weekday in January, it's potentially a threat to jobs.
Guy Fawkes says...
9:05am Wed 6 Jan 10
If loss of a mid-week day's trade or two in a shopping centre that sells almost exclusively luxury, discretionary goods is a 'huge blow' to the regional economy, it just goes to show how unbalanced and dysfunctional that economy is. Personally I'd be far more concerned about manufacturing businesses being ordered to reduce their power usage, just as we need to produce and export everything they can make to help us out of the recession.