Grand Arcade Shopping Centre — Local services in Wigan

If I had been writing this say 5 years ago I would have given it 5 stars. Sadly I'm not and the passage of time has not been kind. We went on a Tuesday morning and it was quite busy in town. The car park at The Arcade was quite busy too which surprised us considering the cost! Now we knew some shops had moved, places like Debenhams have gone altogether but still we were surprised at how bare and sad it looked. Just some of the names gone ... M&S, Next, Monsoon, TK Max, Debenhams of course, .... these are just the ones I remember. Not that there aren't any good shops left ..River Island, Body Shop, Boots, Clinton's and so on but what was really noticeable was that they were all empty, or at least almost. The eateries upstairs still had a few customers but again nothing compared to previous visits. It's sad. Wigan was a good place to shop with lots of high street names and local shops intermingled, with good resources like cafes, opticians although Vision Express has gone, chemists, banks, transport hubs including a train station almost in the middle of town and the development of The Grand Arcade was the cherry on the icing. It's lost it's shine and the icing is melting in favour of a place known as...

The grand arcade is the primary shopping mall in Wigan town centre. It's a fairly modern mall that was constructed in the late 00s. . The centre, like many elsewhere, has seen a number of big name closures in recent years in line with trends nationwide. . The mall still includes some great stores and had a fantastic 2 floor hmv that stocks a great range of vinyl records. Other highlights include, river island, shu, waterstones, boots, JD, and sports direct to name a few. . Since the demolition works began at the neighbouring galleries mall (Wigan's 2nd mall) there has been a number of smaller stores relocating to the grand arcade including some local independent brands. . One of the unique and interesting things about the mall is its connection to music and the world famous nightclub 'Wigan Casino'. The mall stands on the site of the former nightclub and includes a range of memorabilia throughout the mall. . This in itself makes the grand arcade a...

Grand Arcade in Wigan's town centre is a well specified shopping mall with shops, coffee shops and seating for food and refreshments, all in an architecturally appealing presentation. The mall imaginatively uses tight town centre space, and is brightly illuminated thanks to expansive ceiling skylights and a glass frontage which opens on to the town centre's Market Place. Retail endures hard times, but unlike many struggling shopping malls, Grand Arcade succeeds where others are not.

The entrance features a statue of local boy "done well", George Formby. Born George Hoy Booth in 1904 at 3 Westminster St, Wigan, he was known to a worldwide audience by his father's assumed name through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he sang light, comical songs, usually playing the ukulele or banjolele, and became the UK's highest-paid...