Busy October for the BID!
Solihull BID serves up 7,000 diners & puts Solihull in front of 30,000 members of the Rihanna Navy
It’s been a busy October for Solihull Business Improvement District as two of its major campaigns for 2011 were delivered side-by-side.
First up was Solihull Dining Week (1st-9th October) and results are now in from the food and drink businesses proving that the promotional week was a roaring success with more than 7,000 diners packing cafes, bars and restaurants in the town and restaurants confirmed an influx of new customers as well as increased visits by familiar faces.
Then, just six days later (and again a month later), the Solihull BID team were hard at work again presenting some of the town’s coolest fashion brands to a total of almost 30,000 excited Rihanna fans at the LG Arena in a unique dance/fashion catwalk show designed to raise the profile of the town to a new generation of shoppers. Collections from brands such as Superdry, White Stuff, Topshop, Swank, Desigual, French Connection and Office were showcased by professional dancers in forumLIVE to Rihanna fans before their idol took to the stage.
Shirley Sturzaker, Director of Solihull Business Improvement District which organised the event is delighted by the participation from town centre retailers for both events.
“Both events were carefully targeted to introduce key audiences to what Solihull has to offer in terms of shopping, eating and drinking. Town centre retailers and restaurants have been fantastic in their support. For Dining Week they put a lot of thought and effort into their sessions in the demo kitchen, their dining offers and other promotions. The fashion event allowed many of them to open their doors to our stylist and let us borrow the best of their Autumn/Winter collections to showcase what a great place the town is for style-conscious young adults.
“I am delighted that everyone’s hard work paid off and that we have seen some tangible results for the town centre economy. And in a week when it has been proven that Solihull is one of the few places outside the South East that is underpinning the UK economy (Source: ONS), it is important we ensure trading in the town is as buoyant as possible.”
Feedback from the participating retailers has been extremely positive. One restaurant that saw an uplift in diners during Dining Week was Giraffe, also in Touchwood which ran a children’s workshop and a session in the demo kitchen. Manager Richard Piggott commented: “Dining Week has helped put Solihull on the map for great food and drink. For us it has been a really worthwhile event. We have been able to introduce new customers to the Giraffe philosophy of global food served all day to the sound of world music – and as a result our sales have increased noticeably with families staying on to eat following the kids workshop we ran and over 300 voucher redemptions – so far.“
And Lynette Bruce from House of Fraser, which provided a number of brands for the fashion show commented: “Working with the BID team the Rihanna fashion event gave us a great opportunity to showcase our young fashion brands, including Therapy, Label Lab, Desigual, Superdry and Oasis, to almost 15,000 Rihanna fans – which is exactly the right demographic for us.”
The events were both part of Solihull BID’s business plan, approved by the 477 businesses who pay a levy to the BID to fund its activities, to increase trading in the Solihull for all sectors of the town centre economy. Other projects have focused on providing benefits to the Professional Services sector, other retailers and also the office businesses located in the town.