The Central FM Awards - Make A Difference In The Community Award

AND THE WINNERS ARE... Maureen and Neil Kilgour!

Thistle’s shopping Centre first opened its doors to the public back in 1977 and has remained Stirling’s main focal point in the City Centre for the last 44 years.

In 1997 it built an extension to the original scheme creating a retail hub for the city at just over 500,000 sq/ft. The Centre sits right in the heart of Stirling and has an adjoining bus station, and the train station is located within a 5-minute walk.

The Centre welcomes on average around 8-9 million visitors a year many of which are loyal locals who see this as being their Centre of choice. As well as the local visitors Stirling also benefits from the foreign tourist market with around 2 million tourists visiting Stirling as a historic attraction within the Central belt of Scotland. Stirling also hosts a world class University close by which also brings the Centre business from the students staying within the City.

The Centre hosts over 80 stores many of which are the key anchors that you would expect to find in a major City Centre shopping destination like Thistles.

Thistles has recently changed ownership and was purchased by the new owners AXA investments back in December 2020. AXA Investments have purchased the Centre at a time when the market value was very low, but they have a long-term strategy to re-develop the Scheme and enhance the overall offer to their customers as shopping behaviours change, as the retail world recovers from Covid restrictions. 

At present the Centre is approximately 80% let as we were unfortunate to loss a few national retailers such as Debenhams and Arcadia stores due to the retail recession. The Centre has had some initial investment spent on it over the last few years to enhance the overall appearance of the Scheme, and which makes it look remarkably well kept for a Centre of this age. 

With the new owners coming on board and the management agents changing from JLL to Savills, we have been asked to carry out a full operational review and tender of all major contracts, to ensure that we achieve a high level of service at competitive costs. 

Contact details:

Thistles Shopping Centre
Goosecroft Road
Stirling
Scotland
FK8 2EA

Tel: 01786 470 055

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