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bdaily goes behind the scenes at Cramlington’s Manor Walks Shopping Centre with general manager Bruno Coppola

Bruno Coppola is the general manager at Manor Walks Shopping Centre Cramlington, which is Northumberland’s largest shopping centre.

Bruno, 48, will take the centre forward as it embarks on an exciting multi-million pound revamp. His role currently sees him spearheading plans that have been unveiled for the development of the retail and leisure complex in Cramlington town centre, including the creation of a multiplex cinema and restaurants to be built next year.

Follow Manor Walks on Twitter: @manorwalks and keep up to date with news and events by liking their Facebook page.

What key challenges has your company recently faced?

Never has there been so much adverse press written about the retail sector than what I’ve seen recently, with some high streets showing void rates of up to 30%. This coupled with global political and economic instability has seen a number of landlords slash investment in shopping centres. Here in Northumberland, Manor Walk’s developer Hammerson has rewarded the loyal customer base in Cramlington by earmarking a considerable sum for an exciting development of a multi-screen cinema and family restaurants to help support retailers and consolidate business in the town.

What is your biggest achievement over the past 12 months?

I was delighted to have been appointed to the enviable position of general manager at Northumberland’s largest shopping centre, Manor Walks, Cramlington five months ago. The strategic leadership of a 500 000 sq ft shopping centre, home to over 100 shops and eateries employing in the region of 1300 people, brings great responsibility.

In that short time we have developed an active plan to engage the local retailers, attract more customers to the town through fun family activities and ensure our own sustainability.

What is your biggest focus for the coming year?

To continue with the great work we have started building the Manor Walks brand and customer loyalty. It’s an honour to lead a committed and passionate team of retailers and I look forward to playing an integral role in the future development of one of the region’s leading shopping and leisure destinations.

In response to the challenging retail sector and competition locally, we will continue to work on our strengths which are our quality, distinctiveness and passion for retail. We have been proud to serve families locally for nearly 40 years and our success is demonstrated in the very few empty shops we have.

If you had to choose one top piece of advice for someone just starting out in business, or is currently operating within your industry sector, what would it be?

With the changing retail landscape new businesses are in a perfect position to be flexible and continuously re-evaluate their business models and respond to new trends. Top retailers excel at building long-term relationships with its customer base to reinforce its brand.

Careful handling and development of long-term relationships built on knowledge, trust and feedback is essential. Never be afraid to ask your customers what you could do better.

Can you share with us your view of the current landscape of business, in this region or generally and where your organisation sits within it?

The retail sector is an uncompromising battle ground. Something that Northumberland is well versed in. Clearly difficult times make good companies better companies. I believe local passion, tenacity and entrepreneurial skills provide us with a unique position to make sure our local companies become some of the best. These values are obviously appreciated internationally as exports from the North East were over £12bn in 2010. Our local retail businesses are now in an unprecedented great position to access so many other markets that were previously inaccessible.

The medium of e-commerce needs to be an integral element of any business strategy. We have embraced some mediums and are looking at ways to benefit from ever growing online transactions.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jonny Marshall .