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It has cost £80 million, taken a decade of discussion and three years of construction, but when the V&A museum opens in Dundee on September 15 Scotland will have its first design museum.
The futuristic building by Japanese architects Kengo Kumo & Associates is already a city landmark and the first exhibition – Ocean Liners: Speed & Style – is an appropriate debut in a city whose past fortunes have relied on the sea.
But what local businesses are now waiting anxiously to see is if the cultural hype will be translated into retail gold.
If visitors flock to the museum, as predicted, retailers in the heart of Dundee are set to reap the benefits. Visitors and tourists bring spending power and that means money through the tills.
It’s the same story in Glasgow, where the four-year refurbishment of the Burrell Collection will end in 2020.
Here there are hopes for a spike in tourism figures to the city and a spending boost to go with it.
Last year the number of visitors to the National Museum in Scotland in Edinburgh broke the two million mark for the first time and it wasn’t only the museum shop that benefited.
From corner stores to High Street retailers, supermarkets and high-end boutiques, the ‘bounce’ created by an influx of tourists can be significant.
In the contemporary retail market, culture equals customers and, if you work in retailing close to a landmark or tourist attraction, you’ll be accustomed to upping your game during school breaks and other holiday periods.
This is when the number of customers can increase significantly.
But it isn’t just museums that bring shoppers into city centres. Anything that enhances the shopping experience is a boon to retailers.
In Glasgow one current project is the transformation of Sauchiehall Street into a tree-lined boulevard. Recent fires may have devastated buildings along this famous thoroughfare, but work continues on cutting traffic and planting greenery in an attempt to create a European feel in the heart of the city – somewhere that shoppers will choose to linger.
And the longer people stay around the more they spend.
But you don’t need to wait for the authorities to make a transformation to your neighbourhood. Persuade your shop manager to invest in windowboxes or potted trees by the front door. Or adopt and transform an empty patch of ground close to your store and you’ll enjoy an economic benefit.
If every shop in Scotland did the same, they’d make shopping a green and pleasant experience and customers would turn up in their droves.
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