Lock-in brings thousands to St David's

10th February 2011

More than 6,000 students flocked to St David’s Cardiff on Tuesday evening as the centre celebrated the successful return of its exclusive student lock-in.

Students from universities and colleges across Wales were prepared to wait for up to an hour and a half in queues which stretched throughout The Hayes and along Mill Lane, as they braved the rain to gain entry into the centre’s second after hours lock-in event.

The lock-in involved the collaboration of more than seventy retailers and eateries in St David’s, which provided one-night-only discounts, exclusive offers, goody bags, competition and raffle prizes for students.

Students were entertained with a one-off performance from a Lady Gaga tribute act, along with live DJ sets in stores and throughout the centre. Local venues Tiger Tiger and Buffalo Bar also set up temporary bar areas, offering music and refreshments until 11:30pm.

Brands including Cult, New Look, Republic, Nike, Henleys, Warehouse, Ollie & Nic, David & Goliath and Quicksilver, as well as cosmetic ranges Benefit and Mac at Debenhams, offered discounts of up to 20%. Competitions included the chance to win store vouchers from USC, mobile phones from 3 Store and a Playstation 3 games console from Clas Ohlson. 

Steven Madeley, centre director of St David’s, said: “We were keen to replicate the overwhelming success of last autumn’s student lock-in and with the involvement of an even larger number of stores we were able to do this. Retailers went above and beyond what we could have hoped for to attract students and to offer them a one-off shopping experience to remember.”

Restaurants including Bellini’s, Nandos, Sale Pepe and Spudulike were also involved in the lock-in, offering discounted meals and opening their doors later into the evening for student diners.

Mr Madeley continued: “The atmosphere throughout the centre was fantastic and we have received great feedback from both the students who attended and the retailers themselves. It is events such as this which allow us to repay our loyal student shoppers by giving them exclusive access to an event on such a large scale, which they can enjoy after hours.” 

One of the busiest stores of the night was Jack Jones and Vera Moda, which offered 200 shoppers goody bags filled with t-shirts, belts and scarves and also hosted a live in-store DJ.

Paul Evans, store manager at Jack Jones and Vera Moda said: “This was a great opportunity to get the brand out there amongst the student market. We are a new brand to the UK and students are one of our biggest target markets so this is a fantastic event for us. The atmosphere has been great.”

A number of brands in St David’s previewed their new Spring-Summer collections at the event and offered students free refreshments whilst they shopped. Other shoppers took advantage of 10% off holidays with Thomas Cook.

Another of the stores which proved particularly popular on the night was Pulp, located on St David’s walk. Simon Allen, general manager at Pulp, said: “We’re a relatively new store and so this has been a great opportunity to get our name out there. We’ve got a very wide target audience and students are certainly part of this so the lock in was a great chance to let them know more about the brand. We’ve offered 20% off and have had Propaganda DJs in the store which has created a brilliant buzz and has brought in lots of people. The centre itself has been really busy and the atmosphere is brilliant.”

St David’s will now look to continue with its 2011 fashion calendar by hosting a fashion weekender to showcase the new collections of brands and designers throughout the centre in the spring. For more details on this and other events coming up at St David’s, visit www.stdavidscardiff.com or search St David’s / Dewi Sant on Facebook.

Back to latest news here.

Keep-up-to-date

Keep up-to-date with Cardiff news, events, competitions and offers by following us on Twitter or becoming a fan on Facebook.