LUCY HARDING: Losing M&Co does not mean the death of the High Street

Another one bites the dust – a big chain pulling out of Nairn and other towns across our region. I am of course talking about M&Co and while my Queen reference may seem flippant, it’s not intended to be.

A few years ago, Nairn was awash with many more national chains selling us movies, shoes, wine and more. But now, M&Co has gone the way of Woolworths, Blockbuster and Victoria Wine.

Losing M&Co is a blow. The shop was a fantastic resource, preventing people from needing to travel out of Nairn, enabling leisurely browsing as part of a day in town. M&Co was also an important employer and there are now a very talented team of people due to be out of work. Despite M&Co being a ‘national,’ the team there are local people. They were accessible and very community-minded. They have hosted and got involved in several charity fashion shows.

Remember Storm Arwen? It hit us when we were due to stage the Christmas Lights Switch on. Urgent changes had to be made and we found ourselves with nowhere for our street performers to store their kit or get changed. M&Co came to our rescue.

However, I want to say this very clearly, this loss DOES NOT mean the death of the High Street.

In the last year, one business which already has two premises has announced it is opening another. A business which left the High Street, returned to a different location and we have welcomed The Highland Weigh and IV12 and look forward to Murray Travel opening up.

This is GOOD news. Setting up business in any climate is never easy, but people are choosing to either expand or start-up businesses in Nairn. We have some very valuable real estate in Nairn and we are confident there will be further interest. Nairn BID will be here to support anyone who is even thinking of setting up shop.

What does need urgent attention though are the state of some of the properties. There are many that need investment to bring them in line with building regulations. We believe government needs to do more to make landlords get their properties lease ready! If that doesn’t happen, it could be a very different story for Nairn.

Lucy Harding is manager of Nairn BID.