Isabella's is a beautiful gift shop situated in the ill-fated Morgan Arcade.
Like The Royal Arcade, it is enclosed under a beautifully ornate Victorian glass ceiling, but where this works to the advantage of The Royal Arcade, intensifying the vibe, with the noises amplifying as they carry down this lovely long mews, it has the opposite effect in The Morgan Arcade. With very little activity, the few sounds that are made tend to echo harshly off the buildings and ceiling, accentuating the fact that it isn't much used.
Businesses like Isabella's are staving off the demise at the St Mary Street end of the arcade. Well positioned sandwich boards at the mouth of the arcade are drawing in a steady stream of visitors as far as her shop at least. But even this isn't an entirely successful quest. Isabella's was once an up-market gift shop selling originally designed accessories and ornaments. These days such items sit gathering dust on the shelves, whilst the low cost cheap and cheerful Welsh souvenirs and nick-nacks fly out of the door. And even though these sales keep her busy all day, the average spend is about £1.00 per person, and so when she tots up the take at the end of the day it is depressingly low compared to the volume of custom.
This is a tragedy. What's more, if Isabella is lucky enough to sell one of her beautiful handbags or a piece of exquisite jewellery, the money is immediately reinvested in the more gimmicky souvenir stock, instead of the more creditable higher cost items.
It's a war of attrition that will eventually culminate in the unique identity of the shop being lost, and a valuable outlet for more creative endeavour will be lost forever.
Isabella clearly has taste and flair in abundance. She's a smart woman attempting to do what she loves. I'm not sure whether she can see the transformation through to the bitter end. But with bills to pay, she's there for the meantime at least. And who knows, something may happen to turn around the fortune of this declining arcade?
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