Business owner sees things ‘getting worse’ at Polly James clothes shop

Polly has worked at Polly James, a women’s clothing and accessory shop, for more than 20 years now, but the years after the pandemic have been the worst in business.

When she first opened in the early 2000s, Polly had lots of passing trade, with people treating themselves to clothing and goods in the busy town centre.

However, when shops reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, Polly noticed that people’s shopping habits were not the same.

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Inside the town centre clothes shop (Image: St Helens Star)
She said: “People, especially the younger generation, have turned to online shopping now.

“They are more environmentally conscious too, turning to second-hand shops and Vinted.

“People don’t treat themselves anymore. They’re asking ‘do I really need it?’ Instead.”

Polly has had to slash her prices to encourage more spending (Image: St Helens Star)
As well as the pandemic, Polly claimed that the cost of living crisis, a lack of shops, empty buildings and a lack of free parking is what has stopped people from coming into the town centre.

“There’s nothing to draw you in,” she said.

“People go to retail parks now, there’s free parking and more variety.”

The shop has multiple signs encouraging people to shop local (Image: St Helens Star)
Polly has taken risks to encourage more people into her shop, cutting prices back to get people to take a look and purchase more goods.

Although this has helped with people buying more than one piece of clothing, unfortunately, it hasn’t brought in any new customers.

However, Polly thanked her loyal base of customers who she sees quite often, but even those are dwindling down, she explained.

When asked about whether the new £90m regeneration plan at St Helens would help Polly said she “can’t predict anything” and only “time will tell”.

With a clear message throughout her store, with signs promoting the support of local businesses, it was evident that Polly was passionate to promote the message.