An empty shop window in the centre of Shrewsbury has been transformed by a “bright and cheerful” display designed by an artist.
The former Nationwide unit, on the corner of Claremont Street, has been empty since the building society moved to new premises in Pride Hill – and Shrewsbury BID (Business Improvement District) has worked with local artist Emma Williams to give the window a new look.
Emma, who has worked on other empty shop windows and regularly designed Tanners wine merchant’s window displays, said she was delighted to be involved.
“For this project I wanted to create something bright, cheerful and eye-catching which is generally a style I lean towards,” she said. “The window is aimed at depicting life on the Shrewsbury streets and shoppers from the market hall.
“Hopefully this will help brighten people’s day and make the market hall more prominent for shoppers too.”
Kate Gittins, facilities manager at Shrewsbury Market Hall, said the project had been very much welcomed by businesses in the area.
She said: “The combination of the colourful design, the black shiny panels installed to hide the ugly facia boards and the newly-cleaned mezzanine windows have transformed the old Nationwide frontage into a wonderful visual feature with the added bonus of some wayfinding to the market!
“This has been further enhanced by the recent Shrewsbury town centre public realm improvement works, with the pavements widened and the junction at Claremont Street realigned to create a lovely user-friendly public space.”
Mike Gries, Shrewsbury BID board director and franchisee of Subway in Claremont Street, added: “The Nationwide corner unit is a big part of this area of the town centre, and empty shop windows are never a good look.
“By working with local artists we are turning vacant units into something creative and informative, which is great to see.”
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