ENQUIRY C - IMPACT OF TOUCHWOOD

Aim:
To investigate the impact of Touchwood shopping centre on the rest of the CBD
To investigate what shoppers think of the new centre?

Hypothesis
1. Do you think that the rest of the CBD will have benefited from the development of Touchwood? Why?
Number of customers, marketing or advertising, increasing size of the CBD and number of businesses within it
2. Will there be a negative impact on businesses in the rest of CBD. Touchwood is new and modern and so will attract more people perhaps. Do you think the shopping quality or environment is likely to be better and thus attract more people?
3. How do people view the facilities offered by Touchwood in comparison to CBD?
4. Are people attracted to Solihull CBD more due to the development of Touchwood?
5. Does Touchwood attract larger crowds than Mell Square?
6. Has crime increased in Solihull as a result of the development of Touchwood?

Background information on Touchwood
Collect leaflets
Location
Description
Shops, leisure provision, environment- gardens, seating, lighting, sculptures etc, services, information, security
Number of shops, categorise into types of goods
Car parking provision

Table of possible positive and negative factors on other shops and impact on people in Solihull:
Shops +ve no of customers, advertising
People +ve choice of shops, better leisure provision, new jobs available, better quality shopping environment
Shops –ve less customers, more competition, lower profits, higher rents
People –ve more noise, more busy, more congestion, closure of stores / facilities

Table to show similarities and differences between Mell Square and Touchwood
Seating
cafes
pedestrianised
lighting
plants
window displays
information points
signposts,
litter bins

Methods
Questionnaires – either to shoppers or retailers?
Do you compare Touchwood to the whole of CBD or Mell Square?

1. Shoppers Questionnaire:
Distance to home?
Is Touchwood easily accessible?
Do you visit Solihull more since Touchwood has opened
On average how often do you visit Touchwood shopping centre?
Do you prefer to shop in Touchwood or elsewhere in CBD?
When you are shopping within Solihull how much time do you spend in Touchwood, Rest of Solihull
Where do you think quality of shopping is higher – Touchwood or rest of Solihull
Do you find Touchwood is a pleasant environment in which to shop?
Has Touchwood got sufficient facilities?
In your opinion has Touchwood had a positive / negative impact on the rest of Solihull?
Business Questionnaire
Has business suffered from competition in Touchwood
How has business suffered – less customers, loss of interest, business closed down
Has business improved -In what way
Has Touchwood had a positive / negative impact
Has the problem of traffic congestion in Solihull increased since Touchwood was built
Has Touchwood got a wider variety of shops
Is Touchwood visually attractive
Has the maintenance of Solihull improved as a result of Touchwood
Has Touchwood increased the number of visitors to Solihull
Is Touchwood easily accessible?
(Remember to focus questionnaire to aims and link to hypothesis)

2. Quotes from people / Newspaper articles

3. Annotated photos

4. Ground floor land use – number of shops
Are you going to use the same categories as in Enquiry A or devise other?
sports and outdoors
health and beauty
fashions
children’s toys, nursery equipment etc
books, gifts, cards etc
services
electrical and communications
jewellery
shoes and accessories
other specialist