It was Grand. And it was definitely Central.

But without the revered named of John Lewis & Partners perched above the 20 million people using New Street Station every year, what is the future now for Birmingham's city centre shopping experience?

Opened on September 24, 2015, as part of the £500 million redevelopment of New Street Station/Grand Central, the store has failed within FIVE years.

Of course, the blame for that primarily lies with the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and is nothing to do with the fact that the 467 NCP car parking spaces above it cost £15 each if you dare to stay in town for more than five hours.

But, like John Lewis itself, significant parts of the city's retailing foundations were already wobbling - as if to say there will be only be so many times you can rearrange the deckchairs if an over-sized liner is in trouble.

Five days left: John Lewis remained ominously closed in Grand Central on July 4 - 19 days after lockdown's retailing restrictions were first eased with the reopening of the Bulling
Five days left: John Lewis remained ominously closed in Grand Central on July 4 - 19 days after lockdown's retailing restrictions were first eased with the reopening of the Bulling

Vast parts of the city centre's once thriving shopping areas that have been struggling for years include Smallbrook Queensway, Dale End, Union Street, The Square and Corporation Street.

Even New Street has been unable to make the most of the giant Apple store opening there in September 2016.

Days before the German Market was set to reopen there a week earlier than usual last November, we noted that almost one in five of its units were not trading at the height of the annual shopping calendar.

Even so, plans were announced last year to try to transform House of Fraser and The Square with mixed use developments, but can they now go ahead if retailing is clearly so far over capacity already?

Saturday, July 4: Foot Balance remained closed outside of the main entrance to John Lewis which chose not to reopen on June 15 when the Bullring began trading again
Saturday, July 4: Foot Balance remained closed outside of the main entrance to John Lewis which chose not to reopen on June 15 when the Bullring began trading again

Today, there remain giant gaps in the city's retail scene where, for example...

  • Habitat / Morrisons and then My Local used to be on upper New Street close to Victoria Square...
  • Where the old, three-floor Primark used to be on lower New Street...
  • Where the huge WHSmith used to be on High Street...
  • Where Forever 21 used to be in the Bullring etc.
View inside the old entrance at Union Street / Union Passage
The staircase inside the old WHSmith entrance off Union Passage - the site has been empty since March 2018 when the company opened a much smaller store on Union Street

However hard the city might try to smile through the current crisis, the sad fact is that some of its teeth are currently missing.

And that's never a pretty sight.

So, if these existing retail spaces could not be profitably filled and given shiny new veneers when times were comparatively 'good', what next for the city centre in the post John Lewis world?

What they say

In an attempt to remain optimistic, a Bullring and Grand Central statement said: "We will continue our discussions with John Lewis regarding their future in Birmingham, as there remains a significant period left on the lease.

"However, the strong city centre and high footfall location of the current John Lewis space lends itself to future alternative uses, which we will explore.”

In May this year, the giant Debenhams announced it was quitting its plum position at the opposite end of the Bullring to Selfridges - only to do a quick about turn after seemingly securing a new deal with landlords Hammerson.

January 27, 2020: View of John Lewis at Grand Central from NCP New Street Station car park on St Judes Passage
January 27, 2020: View of John Lewis at Grand Central from NCP New Street Station car park on St Judes Passage

Likewise, HMV, had announced at the end of December that it was pulling out, only to suddenly say that it wasn't.

So the one chink of light for now is this...

Even though it has announced seven more store closures around the country, is it possible that John Lewis is trying to cute in Brum?

Has it taken its rivals' brinkmanship to another level at Grand Central - just when everyone knows that struggling landlord Hammerson can ill-afford another loss following the collapse of Merry Hill owner Intu a mere 13 days ago on June 26?

Lisa Williams, Head of Branch at John Lewis & Partners (left) and Sam Watts, General Manager of Selfridges when they were joining forces to run Retail BID Birmingham
March 18, 2019: Lisa Williams, Head of Branch at John Lewis & Partners (left) and Sam Watts (now Watson), General Manager of Selfridges when they were joining forces to run Retail BID Birmingham

Retail BID Birmingham split down the middle

Exactly one year before the lockdown the prospects for the management of retailing in Birmingham looked to be as bright as they could be given the prevailing harsh winds sweeping across Britain's ailing high streets.

On March 18, 2019, the above photograph showed rival retail bosses Sam Watts (Selfridges) and Lisa Williams (John Lewis) joining forces as the chair and deputy chair of Retail BID Birmingham.

At once it showed that Birmingham could do business and that rivals would benefit from symbiosis.

The pair's arrival had an instant impact.

July 4, 2020: Retail BID Birmingham funds flowers like these to soften the impact of New Street's anti-terror barriers close to the Apple store (left)
July 4, 2020: Retail BID Birmingham funds flowers like these to soften the impact of New Street's anti-terror barriers close to the Apple store (left)

Almost immediately the BID began to invest £40,000 in an annual programme to jetwash the city's filthy streets.

New bicycles were bought for a team of good-humoured patrol officers to make the city centre feel much safer with the additional help of a secure radio network linked to both retailers and the police.

As lockdown was eased on July 4, visitors to the city centre would also have noticed the BID's further investment in lots of colourful flowers to soften the harsh impact of the anti-terror barriers down New Street.

Every time somebody was stabbed in the city, lives had a better chance of being saved.

On June 15, when the Bullring reopened, the newly-married Sam Watson personally welcomed shoppers back in to her still futuristic Selfridges store.

July 4, 2020: Three of Retail BID Birmingham's patrol officers - Paul, Stuart and Bryan - keeping tabs on the city's public realm
July 4, 2020: Three of Retail BID Birmingham's patrol officers - Paul, Stuart and Bryan - keeping tabs on the city's public realm

Sam told BirminghamLive: "We’re excited to see the city centre reopen for business and we’re looking forward to welcoming back workers and visitors. It’s good to be back.”

In a move that was unthinkable even at the turn of the year, just 24 days later John Lewis was announcing it was keeping its own doors closed for good.

Today, a statement issued on behalf of Retail BID Birmingham said: “We are naturally saddened at the news that John Lewis at Grand Central is due to close permanently, along with several other branches across the country.

The city centre has never looked so smart since Retail BID Birmingham began to regularly jetwash the streets 16 months ago
July 4, 2020: The city centre has never looked so smart since Retail BID Birmingham began to regularly jetwash the streets 16 months ago

“The challenges facing high street retail have been well documented and this has been further impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our thoughts are with the employees affected by today’s announcement and we will work hard to support them in whatever way we can.

“Birmingham remains a leading shopping destination and it has been great to welcome back visitors to a safe and secure city centre retail environment.”

HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, during his visit to open the Bull Ring Shopping Centre on 29th May 1964.

Time waits for nobody

Here's some food for thought to put the timescale of John Lewis's short-lived Grand Central investment into context...

After the original Bull Ring Shopping Centre was opened in May, 1964 by the Duke of Edinburgh, it would survive for 35 years before it was being flattened at the turn of the century, ready to be reincarnated at vast expense as the Bullring which opened on September 4, 2003

Even The Pavilions on High Street lasted 29 years - after managing to survive an expensive mid-term remodelling before closing down in May 2016.

The day the Pavilions closed on May 20, 2016
How it used to look: The day the Pavilions closed on May 20, 2016

This site was then totally gutted and reinvented as 'the world's biggest Primark' which opened to great acclaim on April 11, 2019 - only to then be closed during lockdown on its first birthday.

In the meantime, the Mailbox on the other side of the A38 Queensway had also been opened in 2000 and then reborn again in 2015 at the cost of another £50 million.

All of these projects illustrate how quickly 'the times' move on in the modern era, but Covid-19 has poured petrol on to these fires.

Only on March 1 this year, we published a feature called Eye-opening Pavilions pictures show there was life before Primark while noting how such history meant that 'the chances of Primark looking the same in 2048 as it did when it opened 29 years earlier in 2019 are close to zero!'

With no internet business at the start of lockdown - unlike John Lewis - it will be interesting to see what Primark does next to survive coronavirus.

Grand Central will give The Electric Cinema opposite a new lease of life
Grand Central's John Lewis store opened in September, 2015

The John Lewis story

Given that John Lewis was founded in 1864, the eye-opening truth behind such big name companies like this one struggling to make a go of 21st century retailing in the heart of Birmingham city centre is that they are not fly-by-nights.

They are institutions that have been loved by generations.

Debenhams can trace its proud history back 242 years to 1778 when the future Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson was aged just 20.

WHSmith was founded in 1792; House of Fraser in 1849 and Marks & Spencer - which fell out of the FTSE-100 for the first time last September - dates back to 1884.

At least they are all alive for now because Woolworths, which opened on November 5, 1909, closed down in the Pallasades and the rest of the country on January 6, 2009 when it was just months short of its centenary.

BHS was founded in 1928, but disappeared from New Street after 88 years in August 2016.

August 1, 2016 - now way back for BHS New Street which closed for good on August 20
August 1, 2016 - now way back for BHS New Street which closed for good on August 20

Even the world's oldest travel agent Thomas Cook collapsed on September 23, 2019 after 178 years and its former New Street store remains empty.

Selfridges was founded on March 15, 1909 and remains a cornerstone of the modern Bullring.

But even though the history of Harvey Nicols goes back even earlier to 1831, its Mailbox store is showing no signs of reopening after lockdown. So might 'Harvey Nics' be the next John Lewis?

House of Fraser took over Rackhams in 2003, but everyone in Birmingham has known for years that it has been teetering on the brink - dwindling customer numbers have seen the number of sales floors being slowy reduced from seven to four.

Once the city's pride and joy of a department store, its Corporation Street location was usurped by Selfridges opening in the Bullring on September 4, 2003.

House of Fraser was left further isolated by the 2012-2016 years of roadworks to build the West Midlands Metro bypass - sorry extension - from Snow Hill to Stephenson Street and it has never recovered since.

August 11, 2014: Work progressing on the Midland Metro tram line outside of House of Fraser on Corporation Street
August 11, 2014: Work progressing on the Midland Metro tram line outside of House of Fraser on Corporation Street

HMV announced at the end of December 2019 that it was 'leaving the Bullring within weeks', only to then say it wasn't - but what does the future hold for the home entertainment store?

Will this particular HMV live to celebrate the company's 100th birthday in exactly one year's time on July 20, 1921?

All of these bumps in the road are nothing, though, compared to the shock of John Lewis pulling out less than five years after opening a giant four-floor store as the cornerstone of Grand Central.

Yes, it looked like a carbon copy of Touchwood in Solihull (2001), so hardly a notch up on the still far more futuristic experience of visiting Selfridges (2003).

But it was always a company which tried to do the right thing with quality before quantity and its proud slogan was always 'Never Knowingly Undersold'.

Today that slogan might just as well be 'Never Previously Swept Away'.

Yards from Debenhams, the whole of the next section of Smallbrook Queensway has been boarded up where closed shops used to include Oriental Tree, GR Bar, News & Booze, Printing.com, Fairdeal Music, Citi Financial, Computer World, Misfitted Hub, Superfi, SBQ3 & Conference Centre
Yards from Debenhams, the whole of the next section of Smallbrook Queensway has been boarded up where closed shops used to include Oriental Tree, GR Bar, News & Booze, Printing.com, Fairdeal Music, Citi Financial, Computer World, Misfitted Hub, Superfi, SBQ3 & Conference Centre

The Covid-19 retail tsunami

BirminghamLive has documented the structural changes across Birmingham city centre for the past three years.

We've been accused of being negative at times, but, in truth, we were simply reporting the evidence in front of our eyes.

Black mamba drug dealers and their stupified victims standing comatosed on the street might lie, but boarded-up shop windows do not.

Our post-Christmas review on January 3, 2019 was headlined Birmingham is a tale of two cities - buzzing Bullring and battered shops

Our new decade review published on January 9 2020 was headlined Changing faces of Birmingham city centre - from empty stores to sparkling newcomers

Former subway shops at the junction of Corporation Street and Bull Street (right)
Former subway shops at the junction of Corporation Street and Bull Street (right)

We wrote: "As our 'then and now' gallery shows, some parts of our high streets are like the land that time forgot. But it's not all doom and gloom.

"Not least because in 2019 Retail BID put its money where its mouth was by helping to clamp down on crime, funding lots of flowers and beginning to jetwash the city's streets on a regular basis to keep them cleaner than they have been for years."

But high street retailing was clearly still in fragile health - a combination of low incomes and the growth of online shopping all serving to kick the city where it hurts.

The blue and green Clean Air Zone signs
Signs for the Clean Air Zone were installed as early as February 2020 but the scheme won't go live until at least January 2021

On top of that, you can factor in years of endless roadworks around the city's network of highways and the threat of an £8 charge to drive into a 'Clean Air Zone' (now due to come in to force in January) that has traders on the city's 854-year-old failing Bull Ring Markets quaking in their boots.

Even as the lockdown restrictions were being lifted, Birmingham City Council was demanding full rent from traders amid the harshest economic downturn in anyone's lifetime.

Next, let's add failing public transport in to the mix.

During his final years as its chief executive, Andy Street proudly oversaw the development of the giant John Lewis in Grand Central.

West Midlands Railway Passengers at Snow Hill Station on Friday, December 20 - a pre-Christmas night of cancellations to places like Kidderminster
West Midlands Railway Passengers at Snow Hill Station on Friday, December 20 - a pre-Christmas night of cancellations to places like Kidderminster

But as the West Midlands' elected mayor, his 2019 Christmas present was the threat to have West Midlands Railway stripped of its franchise.

Following a disastrous reworking of the 'summer' timetable in May, 2019, its already shockingly unreliable and often dangerously overcrowded services were compounded by a series of weekly strikes that hit traders hard for several Saturdays in November and December.

Just for good measure, the city's failure to get a grip with the homeless / drug dealing situation on the streets has hardly helped to make families think the city centre was a good, safe place to be.

A Public Space Protection Order was discussed but not rubber-stamped and even when the city centre was almost deserted during lockdown in April we were still filming malcontents being arrested

Walking around town last year, you would rarely see families enjoying carefree, quality time together, while the the over 70s had all but disappeared from the city centre thanks to the proliferation of retail parks with free parking.

In 2020, the pandemic lockdown from March 23 has been like a tsunami.

It has arrived with breathktaking speed to start pushing all of the pennies over the edge of the penny falls game in an amusement arcade.

Except those pennies are not coming back out to the player to be re-spent at the heart of the city centre's already struggling economy.

Those coins are disappearing into a black hole that nobody yet knows the size of.

John Lewis might be the first big casualty of the Covid-19 coronavirus. But, if we're not careful, it's unlikely to be the last.