Grand Arcade

The Grand Arcade is a major shopping centre in Wigan, although no where near as good as the Manchester Arndale, it still is a nice, smaller shopping centre yet with sky high parking prices.
If you are planning a visit to Wigan and plan to just shop under a cover, don’t go here as many things are outside as well like a Starbucks Coffee, Caffe Nero, Vision Express, CEX, Marks and Spencers and Game, honestly they is not much in this shopping centre, quite a few cafes and a few big names like Vodafone, EE, O2, Sports Direct, Waterstones and WHsmith, some of the stores are quite big, but I would say the shopping centre is on the smaller side especially compared to the likes of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and The Trafford Centre.
I do not know if the outside is still classed as this shopping centre as the likes of GAME are on their website yet is located outside but as I am unsure, I will just be reviewing the Arndale, based on inside the Arndale.
The Arndale isn’t a place where you can go and spend a few hours in the rain, Wigan as a town matches that description as they is quite a few things on the streets outside.
Would I reccomened this shopping centre? Yes but don’t go on a rainy day as you would have to go outside for the streets for many of the shops as they is a few big names here, but not many as like I said, alot is out on the street.
The staff who I spoke to who were an Arndale and not an emploee in one of the stores, seemed quite nice.
In a nutshell why the low 2 star rating
— Not somewhere to spend a rainy day
— You can’t spend a day here, you will need to go outside on the streets to see more of what Wigan has to offer, Wigan is a nice city in the centre if you are willing to leave the Arndale roof.
— Parking is far too expensive for an Arndale of this quality
— Weird stores where you have to go up stairs to reach another level of the store but that takes you onto another level instead of the next level of the mall. I didn’t go upstairs in any of the stores, I just found this to be confusing and not worked in the way to make it easier and less exhausting for the customer.
— Toliets could of been cleaner

You either like the grand arcade or you hate it.
The grand arcade gets mixed feelings being mainly popular with a younger crowd im half and half its a big, modern&clean shopping centre.
Lots of top name shops although most have just re-​located from other parts of town. Complete with a couple of on site multi-​storey car parks which aint free the place only has one way in and one way out meaning you need to come back the way you went in to get out.
Stores include whsmith, vodafone, o2, waterstones,
Boots, jd sports to mention just a few.
Theres a couple of cafes and seats to rest.

Nice new shopping centre, clean tidy with café upstairs easy access for parking. Plenty shops

The new grand arcade is a huge improvement on the old Galleries shopping arcade. It’s modern and quite an impressive building. The shops in the arcade are good; however there is still that feeling that it is just another shopping centre with identikit shops. All the shops that used to be in Wigan have just moved there attracting few new shops and no independent ones. The parking is great but a little expensive I would recommend parking at some of the other car parks and Wigan town centre is relatively small anyway none of the car parks are a huge distance away.

When the Wigan arcade opened the shops relocated from the main streets leaving many buildings empty. Then the relocated to the galleries leaving the Wigan arcade 90% empty. Now they have relocated to the new Grand arcade there are many empty properties available in Wigan town centre

Very big new shopping arcarde located in the centre of Wigan. I personally think it was a waste of money as there was nothing wrong with the Galleries. Most stores have just relocated there. Very few new stores there. Very Americanised,

Boots recently relocated to the new grand arcade complex in town. I feel this has been a big mistake on their part. The new store seems much smaller than the old one and aisles are much narrower giving a feeling of being squashed together. The store is lovely and new, modern and clean yet is not as welcoming as the old store. Many ranges seem to have been cut to fit things in and it appears quite disorganised at times. The main entrance is wide and disabled accessible but wheelchair users will struggle to get around the aisles due to shelving being close together. It is also a bit out of the way to go and get a prescription whereas the old store was en route to the bus station and nearby the main market so was handy for lots of people.
Some good deals available though and advantage card points too.

This is the new shopping centre in Wigan, it takes over the galleries as the focal point of the shopping area in the town. It houses lots of shops such as HMV, Waterstones, H & M and TK Maxx to name just a few. It has only been open a year or two and has made shopping a lot easier within the town as everything which used to be spread out throughout the galleries etc is now mainly in the grand arcade, whilst some shops remain in their old locations the main hub of shopping is now within the GA

This was built fairly recently and while it added a few shops to Wigan Town Centre, a lot of the others simply relocated here from other areas of the Town Centre.
The shops are standard high street fare, although the centre is light with a very high ceiling and looks really nice, it’s nothing special from a shopping point of view apart from adding more parking spaces to the town centre in the town centre.

The grand arcade is a large indoor shopping centre which opened in Wigan town centre in March 2007. The Grand Arcade divides people’s opinions, some like it some loath it. The building itself is ugly from the outside, it has a half finished look about it and stands out as an imposing structure, this may be reduced if the other planned developments in the east side of Wigan come to fruition. Inside the Arcade has an airy and clean feel to it, there are approx twenty large modern shop units, retailers include Debenhams, River Island, H&M, Hurleys, HMV & Waterstones.

I never can work out whether I love or loath this place.
For years Wigan has been crying out for better shops, a music shop, a book shop, just some thing more substantial, but I don’t know if this was the right way to go. The Galleries had plenty of space, but it was never utilised properly, in one part of the Galleries, its practically empty of shops, with just one or two clinging on for dear life with hardly any passing traffic, and you can’t help but think with a little work it could be made in to some thing more appealing to other shops and make that part thrive, but instead, it was decided to make a whole new shopping centre and ignore the problems that already plagued parts of the town.
Naturally, as soon as a new shopping centre was announced, many current shops in the town centre, BHS, Debenhams, Boots, JJB, all bought up new shops and promptly moved in to the Grand arcade, leaving their old, perfectly good shops empty, at least one of these is still part empty, which is just another blight on the Galleries scene.
The Grand arcade is both impressive and depressive at the same time, visually its great, its the only carbon neutral shopping centre in the world, and I think thats a great achievement, but at the same time, but the layout seems very stunted, its just one hallway, that basically leads to a dead end and you walk the same way out as you did in, so once you reach the end, you’ve seen all there is to see and thats it, and the food court, they might as well not have bothered as it consists of ²⁄₃ almost identical cafes, and the toilets with baby change are upstairs as well meaning any one with a pram has to queue for the only lift in the building if they wish to use them, the alternative being almost none existent.
The town centre only just now, over a year later seems to be recovering from most of its major shops moving off the high street and in to the arcade, but it is still pretty bleak, and the original problem of empty shops still exists, it might look all pretty and shiny, but a benefit to the town centre? I think not.