John Culatto
PLANS to give new life to Gibraltar’s shopping experience have been shelved after communication with businesses along Main Street broke down.
The Gibraltar Parliament passed the Business Improvement District (BID) into law last year.
But disagreement about payments forced the company that was running the project to close down.
‘Downtown’ will give full refunds to all the companies that subscribed to the BID scheme, it said.
The government stopped taking payments from companies in October forcing Downtown to dismiss its five employees.
BID chairman George Russo told GBC that the project could still work out but not under the Downtown company.
He said he was disappointed that the BID had fallen through.
The government had supported the scheme, which planned to create a whole new shopping experience along Main Street and nearby streets.
It was supposed to set up better signs, attract quality businesses, and improve networking and training.
But a large number of businesses opposed the plans, in particular bigger stores like Trends, ultimately dooming the project before it even got off the ground.
Brexit and COVID-19 also occurred during the last year, further stalling plans.
READ MORE:
- Business owners slam new BID project and vow not to pay their bills in protest
- Main Street business plan gets go-ahead from Gibraltar Government
- Newly elected shopkeeper-turned minister injects life to Main Street project in Gibraltar
