Another empty shop in Penicuik

The list of empty shops grows even longer as Boston's Pet Shop closes down in the precinct. I won't bother telling you why as I am sure you can guess the reason.....
UPDATE 8th July: you would not even know it had been there now as all the signs are gone and it has been cleared out, unlike the "Marie Celeste" look of Sibsons and L'Amitie!


I expect Midlothian Council will be putting up "Danger Tumbleweed" signs there soon with the way things are going

I've just noticed that the shop next to BNC autoparts seems to have closed.

That was the Luscious Beauty place which has moved to the former Remax place in the precinct (next to the dance school) so thankfully still going. Easy for people to not notice shops closing /opening / moving in Penicuik since there is so little of interest to attract you in to the town centre!

Sam all you seem to do is moan about the amount of food shops there are are being planned. What do you suggest? People shop where they want to shop, if that means local shops close because everybodies gone to the out of town retail parks, hey, thats freedom of choice for you. Local shops need to learn to update themselves and compete - I would rather have the old Fells the Baker and Crawfords that we used to have rather than Greggs, but how come Greggs succedes where they failed? Its called moving with the times Im afraid. Im not saying its a good thing or a bad thing, its just the way things are, and nowadays people are just to apathetic to change things.

Noticed today that Pound Mania in the High Street is closed "due to staff illness". Hopefully that is the truth and it is not going to add to the collection of empty shops there (Victoria Wine, Scotmid, Butchers and Clydesdale Bank)

My wife had just told me about Pound Mania when I came in from work this evening. It seems to have been shut for a while now so I hope you are right and that it is due to temporary illness.

Noticed this morning that Ingmans have closing down sale posters in the window, as Queen sang '...and another one bites the dust....'

Not looking good for the precinct at all now - there are already 3 empty "retail units" in that section (travel agents, dry cleaners and Clydesdale Bank) plus 2 or 3 new ones to come when the block of flats are completed.
Business rates go up dramatically in April so I would not be surprised if more places close - I hope not but you never know.

Angle Park Garage is closing at the end of the month.

They'll still do tyres, but not petrol, and the shop will shut.

It looks as if Asda has been the straw that broke the camel's back as far as petrol is concerned. Good to see that they're still doing tyres though.

Today I noticed that the Nickel N Dime store was closed (not sure if permanent) and there is still no sign of the Optimeyes opticians re-opening (signs were removed from the windows last week which said "re-opening in the spring)
Any further updates anyone?

After many false stories, the BP petrol station at Angle Park has now closed down along with the shop though the tyre centre is still operating there.

In a rare situation, a new Fruit and veg shop is OPENING at the Clock Tower so best of luck to Murrays

Good to hear, was wondering what was going in there, here's hoping its successful..

John Street will be looking very barren in the New Year with the shoe shop, opticians and L'Amitie empty and going to be joined by M & Co soon (formerly McKays) which has now got a "To Let" sign on the building.
Not looking very good!

Not good but on the other hand not surprising in the current climate.. Living close to Edinburgh and its associated retail parks does have alot of benefits, on the other hand it really does nothing for retailers on our own doorstep...

Have you seen the recent idea that Midlothian Council are going to use on empty shops? www.shopjacket.co.uk

I see that M&Co now have the 'closing down' signs in the windows...

musicman wrote:

I see that M&Co now have the 'closing down' signs in the windows...

...and they are busier than ever at the moment as people rush to get the bargains!!!!

I found online that someone managed to get a statement from them. M&Co said

Quote :

We can confirm that our John Street store in Penicuik is scheduled to close in February 2012. The lease is due for renewal at this time and we have taken the difficult decision not to renew. This has been a very recent decision and we are in the process of consulting with our staff and trying to relocate as many of them as possible to alternative stores.

I've just checked the Aldi corporate property site and it looks like the Penicuik site is no longer for sale. This mean one of two things. They've either sold it or maybe they're going to try and build another food store in Penicuik. We'll just have to wait and see unless any of you can shed some light on this?

Yet another planning application lodged for the Straiton area:

https://planning-applications.midlothian.gov.uk/OnlinePlanning/centralDistribution.do?action=dispatch&caseType=Application&caseNo=11/00855/DPP

It would be good to see something done with the derelict Callyr Inn but more "retail units" at Straiton are not going to help any of the town centres in Midlothian. Of course, it might end up like all the other applications which never actually happen!

I've found on the building warrants issued for week ending 22 December that a Mr M Munir has got permission to start to build a store behind 163C & 163D John Street. There is also planning permission through for the erection of a convenience store but it says location unknown. These could be related.

NEW business alert!!!

The shop next to BNC Autoparts (has been carpet shop, beauty salon and Inkdependent) is re-opening soon as Cash 4 Clothes!!!

http://www.lothian-recycling.co.uk/edinburgh-branches.html

tjs96 wrote:

I've found on the building warrants issued for week ending 22 December that a Mr M Munir has got permission to start to build a store behind 163C & 163D John Street. There is also planning permission through for the erection of a convenience store but it says location unknown. These could be related.

I don't think it's related, as the applications seem to be associated with Munir's shop by the clock.

I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear. I'm not comparing the building warrant to the Callyr Inn planning permission but there is another applicant for planning permission which says location: Unknown, applicant: Unknown. This applicant however asks to erect a class one convenience store. Sorry if I mislead you.