| Location | Aberdeen, Scotland |
|---|---|
| Opening date | 1985, 1990 |
| Developer | Scottish Retail Property Limited Partnership |
| Owner | Land Securities, British Land |
| No. of stores and services | 86 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 3 (John Lewis, Marks and Spencer and Next) |
| Total retail floor area | 630,000 ft² (56,700 m²) |
| Parking | 6 floors + John Lewis Car Park |
| No. of floors | 3 |
| Website | St Nicholas & Bon Accord |
The St Nicholas & Bon Accord Shopping Centres(formerly two separate entities; Bon Accord Shopping Centre Aberdeen and St. Nicholas Shopping Centre, and more recently branded with the initial name Bon Accord St. Nicholas Shopping Centre) is the second-largest shopping centre in Aberdeen, Scotland and serves a large catchment area including the city and surrounding Aberdeenshire. Since opening (St. Nicholas in 1985 and Bon Accord in 1990) the shopping centres have together formed one the most dense retailing areas in Aberdeen.
The centre is split into two buildings which effectively join the shopping streets of George Street and Union Street. It has altogether three floors extending to 630,000 sq ft (59,000 m2). Parking is attached with around 1700 spaces. The Bon Accord centre was built in a serpentine shape to maximize shop unit frontage and is covered by a barrel vaulted glazed roof with a 90 ft (27 m) high glazed dome. The St. Nicholas has a more dated, straight-through design with a mostly concrete urban open space on its roof, along with little-used first-floor entrances to some of the businesses.
Many significant brands have been residents of the centres, such as C&A, Primark, and Woolworths with competition particularly increased with the opening of the nearby Union Square Shopping Centre in October 2009. St Nicholas & Bon Accord added several stores in 2009,2010 & 2011, including many brands not previously present in Aberdeen, and has projected expansion of its site.
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There are plans to make large improvements in forthcoming years as part of the Aberdeen Masterplan. The plan in the long term for the St Nicholas & Bon Accord Centres is to transform the first floor of St Nicholas into covered retail space, and a second floor with a food terrace. Meanwhile the Bon Accord Centre will be extended across Loch Street to join onto the existing John Lewis department store (in the former Northern Co-operative Society "ziggurat" building, already linked by a covered footbridge). The revised centre will offer double-height retail units which are favoured by some retailers. There has also been a suggestion of expansion into premises formerly part of the University of Aberdeen Students' Union building.
On 6 August 2009, Next opened its largest Scottish store (54,000 sq ft (5,000 m2)). This includes 300 new car parking spaces (accessed from the current Loch street car park), and a new shop frontage onto the Gallowgate. The store is three times the size of the old stores in the St. Nicholas part of the centre. On 22 August Topshop/Topman opened a new 16,000 sq ft (1,500 m2) store, and River Island also opened an 11,000 sq ft (1,000 m2) store within the old Woolworths and Disney Store units.
In March 2009 a major facelift of the St. Nicholas Centre was completed which consisted of new flooring, lighting, and fixtures and fittings to freshen up the dated interior. It also included new doors and light-box signage at both entrances to the centre. The Bon Accord Centre later revealed plans for a £6 million upgrade to include giving the 20 year-old centre new entrances on both Schoolhill and George Street as well as a new interior and furniture using a white theme and cleaner lines throughout.[1] Which has now been completed.
In December 2010 it was announced by bosses at the centre that the food court in the Bon Accord centre was to close after 21 Years due to competition from other shopping centres within Aberdeen. The area has been re-configured into four larger catering units/restaurants each with internal and external seating out in the mall. The area is being now know as the "Food Terrace".