Beechwood Place - Cheltenham

The Beechwood Shopping Centre is a beautiful shopping location at the heart of Cheltenham town centre. However the Beechwood Centre has one very big problem, any store that opens here ends up fighting for its life. Big or small opening a store in the Beechwood Centre is the ultimate trial of fire.

Constructed just 15 years ago the entrance of Beechwood is very stylish, two massive stone pillars support part of an external dome the ...
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When the Beechwood Centre opened two flagship stores where the anchor for the centre; the first was the now defunct in the UK C&A I used to manage this very store back in the last century, and Debenhams. The rest of the stores then moved in based on the reputation of these two giants. The Beechwood Centres spell of bad luck began when C&A closed its doors, and even though its been replaced by another retailling giant the chain store NEXT ... more

The Beechwood Shopping Centre is a beautiful shopping location at the heart of Cheltenham town centre. However the Beechwood Centre has one very big problem, any store that opens here ends up fighting for its life. Big or small opening a store in the Beechwood Centre is the ultimate trial of fire.

Constructed just 15 years ago the entrance of Beechwood is very stylish, two massive stone pillars support part of an external dome the first of two that dominate the centre. Further into the centre you have yet another dome, rested beneath this dome is a lovely garden area with water effects and a small river flowing through it. The river has numerous bridges which pass over the water, also in this area are benches which you can sit on and try to spot the wildlife..... Wildlife you say? Don't get excited a series of plastic animals are hidden around the garden for kids to spot.
The strange thing about one part of the garden area is that its been unofficially turned into a wishing well, every week hundreds of pounds in small change is thrown into the water by adults and children alike.

The second dome which sits above the garden also offers a second floor, which rather like the Regent Arcade (see earlier review) features smaller independent stores. There are a series of ways you can access the second floor; via a spiral staircase leading into a restaurant, elevator, and a series of escalators.

When the Beechwood Centre opened two flagship stores where the anchor for the centre; the first was the now defunct in the UK C&A I used to manage this very store back in the last century, and Debenhams. The rest of the stores then moved in based on the reputation of these two giants. The Beechwood Centres spell of bad luck began when C&A closed its doors, and even though its been replaced by another retailling giant the chain store NEXT things at Beechwood have never been the same.

Ground Floor Stores

As you enter the centre there are two round frames stores, one of which a café which was known as Movenpick has recently closed after the curse of Beechwood struck it.

The Disney Store - Speaks for itself really this lovely store is close in size to the Oxford Street store, it's a popular location for families and jam packed during the summer and winter months. The Disney Store sits within the second circular framed store at the front of the centre.

Animal - One of Britains favourite clothing brands has taken over two of the Beechwoods units. This very stylish store is a popular location with the "yoof" of Cheltenham. Talking of "yoof" all the staff within the store seem to be aged around 12 years old, and all seem remarkably oblivious to customers. The store has become rather incestuous with practically all the staff dating other members in the store.

D2 - A popular nation-wide fashion retailer, D2 are best known for the varying brands of Denim products they sell.

Vision Express - My favourite opticians, not only are the company pretty good in my opinion this store has some of the best staff I have experienced in an optical adventure. The door is bright and Breezy, with lots of isolated areas for testing so you don't feel like a lab rat like you do with other optical chains.

Evans - Fashions for the lady with the fuller figure, the manager of this store recently retired having worked in the store for 15 years, she was the only member of staff in the centre to have worked within it since the day the centre opened.

Cargo - Cargo used to be regarded as almost a discount Habitat, but now their prices seem to equal Habitat's high price bracket. Interestingly enough when dozens of Cargo stores closed across the UK just after the Millennium this store seems to be doing very well.

Debenhams - Standards in this store have dropped of late, they have had a new manager take over the store. This manager has a reputation that precedes him and he has created the largest turnover of staff in the companies history. The store looks more like a Matalan at present rather than "Britains favourite department store". But one thing cannot be denied, regardless of the manager Debenhams still have a stellar sale and I recently picked up Ben Sherman jeans for £10 a pair.

Athena - The most popular store in the UK (possibly) for prints of images, both art and photographic.

NEXT - Now residing in my old store this branch of NEXT (one of the towns two stores) has some pretty good staff, the manager of this store seems to care about their reputation employing the right people for the jobs rather than what they can just get. On top of that the staff are pretty helpful and certainly more polite than a lot of clothing retailers in the town.

Julian Graves - Health foods galore, I have never actually been in a Julian Graves in my life, not sure why but I plan to remedy that today.

Thorntons - The second of the towns Thorntons stores offers a much better service than the Regent Arcades store. Another nice touch is that with the odd exception the staffing here remain quite consistent. A nice store to get free samples, something the Regents store does not seem to offer.

Candles & Soaps - Hmm what could this sell? A better option than Lush as you can actually go into this store without sneezing so hard that you have a brain haemorrhage.

Silver Mine - A cheap and cheerful jewellers.

There are two other stores that have recently opened neither of whom have a name as yet (no signage) one is a ladies fashion retailer aimed at a younger audience. The second is a gift store offering a variety of out of the ordinary gifts.

At the base of the escalator is a small café style hut with a few seats allowing you to get a drink and a bite at the heart of the centre.

Up the escalators and your again greeted by Debenhams.

Western Computers - The best store in town to get an IPOd, all types, all styles, and all the accessories; they also sell computers.

White Light - The therapists who treat ladies with hair issues, never been in here, not surprising really I guess.

Café Giardino - A nice little café offering good reasonably priced food. There are loads of seats available which is nice, but I'm amazed this café is still open as they never seem busy which is rather a shame.

Art Portraits - Kind of speaks for itself, more rubbish to put on your wall but here you could get a picture of yourself to brandish on the wall; insuring your friends and family know you're a self obsessed weirdo.

Edwina Edwards - Specialist Jewellery at a specialist price.

Muchpink - Fashion accessories for ladies of all ages, never been in but even if I could I might be put off by the prices, but hey this is Cheltenham everyone's rich here are they not? ;o)

Ziggy's - Funky fashions for funky kids, however this is an incredibly not child friendly woman in this store.

The Thread Shed - A strange array of fashions from labels I have never heard of. This store seems popular with teenagers to twenty somethings.

Love IT - A fashion store specialising in French and Italian fashions for ladies.

Well that's it; not a lot to offer and made worse still by the fact that there are over 10 empty units in the centre. Last week alone three stores emptied T-Mobile left and went to the Regent Arcade and two of the Legends fashion brand stores closed down forever. While C&A were the main flagship in the centre all the stores were always let. It's a sad statement as the centre is far more people friendly than the Regent Arcade, the towns other main shopping centre.
Bad centre management has contributed to this downward spiral of the centres fortunes, however a new centre manger and a variety of themed events might change things in the near future.

I really like the Beechwood Arcade and hope that things get better for it in the very near future.

Again Ciao have placed a shopping centre under the catagory of shoe shops, despite none being in the centre. Others have written reviews here on the centre so I opted to do the same.

I have slightly ammended this review today, the reason is because some people consider the truth to be too painful. If you operate a store in this centre, its best to concern yourself with your own business and not the business of others, this is part of the reason why the shopping centre is doing so badly. 

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