Kirkgate Market, can it survive?

majorhoundii · Post by **majorhoundii** » Sun 01 Jun, 2014 2:59 pm

To go on line?http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... phone-apps

Post by **cnosni** » Mon 02 Jun, 2014 5:59 pm

£100k wasted.The market traders are not the sort of retailers who would either be up for this and neither are the customers.The money would be better spent in making the market more attractive to new customers. It needs foot fall not click and collect customers.

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Mon 02 Jun, 2014 7:25 pm

As devils advocate, perhaps they need the traders and cutomers who will use it, to survive. However, maintaining up to date info, stock, prices and offers, making up orders etc is time consuming and probably beyond the resources of many traders.

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Mon 02 Jun, 2014 9:13 pm

I've commented before, but I can't see how the market can possibly survive in it's current form.There is no longer any cheap parking anywhere near the market but acres of free parking can be found at every supermarket and buses in Leeds are prohibitively expensive, thus alienating the very customers the market needs.Imagine what the £8 spent on a 'FirstDay Family and Friends' ticket would buy at Aldi?Meanwhile Tarquin and Fenella in their riverside apartment have Ocado deliver the stuff they could buy in the market for a fraction of the cost...

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Mon 02 Jun, 2014 10:42 pm

Hard to tell if its a mix of holidays, weather or parking but last couple of weeks has been quiet on the market since george st closed. i've always used the playhouse. £1.60 for an hour. The NCP on the market site is £2.20 for 30 mins or £5.60 for two hours!

j.c.d. · Post by **j.c.d.** » Tue 03 Jun, 2014 1:40 pm

£5.60 for two hours (maybe £6 if the machine does not give change) is really too much for a Market shopper who has come there to shop and save a few quid. as an ex. Leeds loiner i grew up with this place, both shopping and working there, i too would be very sad if anything happened to it. other posters are correct in saying the Market needs a rethink and a smartening up. Is there anywhere around here with tales of the Market? as i have a few stories from the late 1940s onwards i could recount.

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Tue 03 Jun, 2014 6:00 pm

The machines take cards so change isn't an issue. Paying for parking doesn't stop people coming into leeds to shop and throwing money at tat in the name of fashion.

BarFly · Post by **BarFly** » Tue 03 Jun, 2014 6:48 pm

Cardiarms wrote: The machines take cards so change isn't an issue. Paying for parking doesn't stop people coming into leeds to shop and throwing money at tat in the name of fashion. True, but I don't think the same people who visit Leeds to buy tat at Harvey Nick's, or wherever, are the type who would use the market and the like -- not unless they tripple their prices and claim to be "free-trade, organic, boutique".

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Tue 03 Jun, 2014 8:11 pm

I suspect some in the council would like that. We get a lot of promotional 'Leeds life' stuff shoved through the door, mainly aimed at students. It always promotes the market but I think the idea of using coins to buy things of people you can see scares too many of them.

urban rambler · Post by **urban rambler** » Fri 25 Jul, 2014 8:42 pm

Someone suggested that since the railway station is losing the tourist information centre, to relocate to under the steps of the Art Gallery, wouldn't it make more sense to utilise the Market spare capacity to open one there, adjacent to the bus station (and the new shopping centre)