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Teesside’s Cleveland Centre gearing towards expansion following footfall boost

Teesside’s Cleveland Centre is looking forward to a positive year after finishing 2014 on a high by welcoming more than one million visitors through its doors during December.

Footfall into Middlesbrough’s largest shopping centre reached a peak during the seven days before Christmas, as 526,915 gift-hunters filed through the malls.

A further 247,162 bargain-hunters visited during the week following Christmas.

The Centre’s JD Sports store enjoyed a particularly successful Christmas following a recent refurbishment, while the biggest success was seen in the Centre’s Wesley Mall which recorded a 19% footfall increase following the recent opening of Psyche’s new store, Style Lab.

Families also queued in their hundreds to meet Father Christmas when he took residence on a giant sleigh in Newton Mall, while a Middlesbrough FC roadshow featuring Boro players proved a big hit.

Centre manager Graeme Skillen said: “While footfall over the Christmas period was level with last year’s figures, most of our retailers reported trade as being up on last year’s figures, with fashion doing particularly well.

Now Graeme is looking forward to a prosperous 2015 featuring the summer opening of the new Holiday Inn Express on the west side of Cleveland Centre.

“We expect the new hotel to be a great addition to the centre, attracting visitors and boosting the town’s regeneration.

“We also have a new development opening soon on Linthorpe Road, featuring several new retailers.”

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