How well did the Piece Hall do this Christmas?

Piece Hall tenants saw hugely successful Christmas sales, with some seeing spikes in trade as high as 200 per cent.
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2019 was the most affluent Christmas shopping season since the Piece Hall reopened in 2017.

As well as soaring sales for the businesses within the Piece Hall, the local heritage destination hosted more than 40 events, varying from comedy shows to live music to cabaret.

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Fifteen of the forty events sold out and there was an overall 20 per cent increase in ticket sales.

Christmas at the Piece Hall. Photo by Bruce Fitzgerald.Christmas at the Piece Hall. Photo by Bruce Fitzgerald.
Christmas at the Piece Hall. Photo by Bruce Fitzgerald.

As well as entertaining the masses, the events welcomed international performers, supported local organisations such as Elland Silver Band and Boomchikkaboom, developed new local partnerships with Brodstock and Leeds College of Music.

Aamir Yusuf owns the toy and game shop Totally Awesome, which had a tremendous sales period over Christmas, with year-on-year sales almost doubling.

The shop’s most popular Christmas gift was a table-top game called Kluster, which was shipped from overseas and meant that Totally Awesome was the first UK retailer to stock it. Aamir ordered 150 units which sold out within days, and he has since ordered extra units for eager Halifax shoppers.

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Aamir said: “Christmas is the biggest time of year for us as the whole aim of our shop is to bring families together without any screens or digital technology; it’s all about getting people to have fun together.

"Our other shop in Hebden Bridge has a mostly local customer base, but at the Piece Hall we have the luxury of both a regular local customer base and those that travel from far and wide to see visit this magnificent building.

"Sales were consistently strong throughout November and December, in contrast with last year when most of our Christmas sales came in the last-minute December rush. It’s been a fantastic festive season for us and although it's been tiring, we can’t wait to do it all again this year.”

Other retailers enjoyed similar success, such as the Chocolate Box, which saw a 20 per cent increase on last year's sales.

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Nicky Chance-Thompson DL, chief executive of The Piece Hall Trust said: “It has been a whole team effort to make Christmas 2019 such an enormous success. We have worked tirelessly to put on an outstanding events programme which was this year enjoyed by over 221,600 people.

"Our hard working and committed tenants saw great results due to the high footfall levels we saw in November and December, and the great shopping and food and drink community we have built here is going from strength to strength with people coming in from all over the UK and the world.

“Despite only being open for a little over 2 years the numbers are an encouraging sign that The Piece Hall Trust’s long-term vision and investment is appealing to both locals and those from further afield.

"Using the Piece Hall as a catalyst for local growth was always planned to be a long-term endeavour, so we are grateful for those that continue to support our partners, independent retailers and restaurants as we learn and strive to deliver an even better experience.

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"It’s now time to look forward to all that we have taking place in 2020, with prolific music gigs, high profile sporting events, food festivals, family fun days, sculpture and outdoor film screenings. I’m very proud of what we have achieved together.”

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