UP CLOSE: Chris Davis, the centre director of Clarks Village in Street

Street Nub News aims to be supportive to every element of the community from business and shops to people and charities and clubs and sports organisations.

Everyone is finding it tough at the moment and is desperate to get back to normal.

We are profiling some of these local businesses and groups regularly over coming weeks in a feature called UP CLOSE IN STREET in the hope that we can be a supportive springboard for their full return to business as usual.

Today we talk to Chris Davis, the centre director of Clarks Village in Street, who talks about how he has gone from working in one of the stores there to running the outlet shopping centre.

During a Q and A session he also talks about his love of Street and how he supports independent businesses, organisations and charities in the village.

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Tell us what your role involves from day to day and what are the key elements of the job?

As centre director of Clarks Village my key objective, especially important at this time, is to create a safe and secure environment for guests to shop and people to work in.

Every day is different for me, which is great - I can go from focussing on making sure that customers have the best experience possible when visiting the village, to working with a community or charity partner to see if we as Clarks Village can support growth and awareness for them. It's an extremely varied job with a lot of responsibilities and that's just how I like it.

Tell us a bit about your personal business background Chris - do you live locally?

I grew up living in Wells, and one of my first jobs was opening and working in the Reebok store at Clarks Village many years ago. Since then I have spent time working in London, Manchester and Liverpool holding jobs ranging from menswear buyer, store manager and area manager before moving back to Somerset where I live just outside Wedmore, enjoying the village lifestyle close to my family and friends.

What do you like about Street? How are you involved in the local community?

I love Street and always have done. I remember making many trips over to Strode Swimming Pool with my Grandad when he was teaching me to swim.

When I passed my driving test myself and friends would drive over to Street to meet up with other friends, especially in the summer months when we would head to Greenbank Pool for a swim. I also remember having a drink and dance with friends at Maxines and then Envy in more recent years.

To be working within Street all these years later is a real joy for me and although work is extremely busy, I do like to get involved and support community-spirited events such as Somerset Day, art trails and the Christmas fairs. At Clarks Village, we have a great relationship with local charities, churches, schools, colleges, as well as Mendip and Street parish councils, and we always ensure that we are doing everything we can to support our community as a centre, as a team and as individuals.

The coronavirus pandemic had a big impact on everyone - how did it affect you?

It was a very strange situation for me, but I was incredibly lucky as I continued to work at home and then within the centre. We were very busy changing or installing new policies and processes to make sure that we were ready to respond to Government advice to re-open the gates as safely as we could.

Our focus was to ensure that people were able to get back to work and guests were able to come back and shop with us when they felt comfortable and confident to do so. The big challenge was that none of us had been through anything like this before, so there was no tried and tested way, but we had such great advice from Landsec, the owners of Clarks Village, and the Environmental Agency at Mendip, and we were able to open with confidence and the feedback from guests since then has been overwhelmingly positive.

It's been great to see that since reopening, shoppers have felt safe enough to come back and shop at the village. Ninety-eight per cent of stores are open and trading, and we have welcomed three new brands to the centre – Lazy Jacks, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, all of which have been a great addition to our brand line-up.

What businesses do you like and use in Street?

We have a great selection of retail stores, cafes and restaurants at Clarks Village, but I am a firm believer in balanced spending, so I ensure that I also spend money with local independent brands and businesses. Burns The Bread is my absolutely 'go to' when it comes to lunch and I love their fresh sandwiches and pasties followed by an iced Chelsea bun.

Tamburinos is a must for family evenings out, or business/team lunches. Thai Elephant and Golden House are on my speed dial for takeaway and I always head to Cog And Sprockets for any bike bits, or to drawl over their road bikes.

The lockdown has been very difficult for many people - how do you think that Street as a village has coped?

I believe that Street has coped extremely well during the lockdown and also since returning to some form of normality. People visiting the centre have been finding different ways to support the community, be it giving more than 200 boxes of Hotel Chocolat goodies to local charities, to supporting local elderly and vulnerable people by collecting and delivering groceries and prescription items.

The community spirit doesn't seem to have slipped either, which is great and a lesson to us all to ensure that we keep looking out for each other.

If there was one thing in Street you would change, what would it be?

Not exactly something to change, but for personal reasons I would love to see a cinema arrive in Street. I feel that Street has the space to welcome it and the people to make use of it, especially when considering neighbouring villages and the distance we have to travel to get to one currently.

I would also like to see the High Street pedestrianised, because since lockdown, having less traffic entering the high street makes for a much safer and enjoyable environment.

Clarks Village has held a number of events over the years - what has been your favourite one and why?

I really enjoyed the Clarks Village 25th Birthday celebration - we had cake, music, giveaways and we managed to feature on the radio and TV which was amazing. Other than that I love Christmas at Clarks Village as the centre just feels and looks amazing.

Even though it may look different this year, we will still be having our Christmas lighting and music to get shoppers in the Christmas mood.

If you could choose one famous person to play you in a movie about your life, who would it be and why?

Not that his journey bears any resemblance to my life so far, but more because I love every film that he appears in and I really appreciate his mental and physical approach to everything he does – The Rock!

Go to the Clarks Village website:

Check out the Clarks Village website here