Shopping in Chester

The fashion scene in Chester

Chester, a sophisticated, historic city dating back to the Roman period, is a place that i've always thought of as more of a tourist city than a fashionable student hub, as beautiful as it is. However, with the student population of Chester rising years by year, there is now more than 20,000 student living in Chester, myself included, and students often find himself studying in Chester as a means to get out of the nearby cities of Liverpool and Manchester for a while, to get at breath of fresh air. So, Chester has had to up its game when it comes to fashionable shopping, and if i'm honest, the shopping scene in Chester isn't half bad, even though it could always be improved... 

Firstly, as you walk into the City from the direction of the train station, the first fast fashion retailers are New Look and Primark. Now, I believe that Primark has been correctly placed, as it's a cheaper shop on the outer city. New Look is different. Now, there's two New Look's, one here and one larger store further up near Next and Debenhams, in the centre of the city. I feel this one is correctly placed, near other fast fashion retailers, and this New Look see's more footfall than the smaller one. Saying all that, the smaller store is set to close in the new year, so they've evidently had the same thoughts.   

 River Island, one of my favorite retailers and where most of my wardrobe comes from, I feel is in rather an odd place, even though the size of the store and choice of garments available is very good. I feel it should be placed in the Grosvenor shopping centre alongside Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and H&M, rather than next to Wilko's, where it is now. With Zara, I also feel this could be placed in the Grosvenor centre, then all the shops with the predominant target market of students would be in the same area as each other. I feel like there is a great choice of shopping in Chester, however I feel there should be a Victoria's Secret placed where Zara is now, and a Boux Avenue store also.

In terms of my current University project for Jack Wills, I feel that the Jack Wills store in Chester is well placed, near Jo Malone, Cath Kidston, Hobbs and Rolex, as these are all placed at the higher end of the high street market, so have been clustered well in the centre of Chester. However, I feel that the visual merchandising on the Jack Wills storefront could be a little brighter, as customers often walk past without noticing the store, and there is often very little footfall inside the shop. 

All in all, Chester is a lovely place to live and study, but with these changes, could be even better. Oh, and did I mention that Chester has some fabulous cocktail bars? Bit of a bonus!

Until next time

Anna xx