Exciting new era for The Guild Wiltshire, formerly Wilton Shopping Village
Phil Maclean, Retail Director & Tom Hedges, Retail Director of The Guild Wiltshire
If you've visited Wilton Shopping Village recently, you may have noticed that things are starting to change.
During lock-down we accelerated a significant programme of improvements, repurposing of disused space and we put a team together with ambitions of returning the village to former glories.
Led by Phil Maclean, Marketing Director, and Tom Hedges, Strategic Development Director, the village has already attracted a plethora of new businesses this summer including a new eatery Herbs & Wild, fine art gallery The Archive, global charity The Halo Trust, design and maker of handcrafted upholstery Sofa Smith, and a whole host of quality home and lifestyle independents.
In August, the departure of our longstanding anchor store, The Edinburgh Woollen Mill has presented us with an exciting opportunity to redevelop their former space.
The project will be led by Tom, who brings his expertise in developing high-profile tourist attractions through transformational change, he is leading the design and repurposing of this space, focusing on combining the unique historic features with new contemporary placemaking and innovations. Tom will also be looking to enhance accessibility and customer experience. Tom's working life started in landscape and environmental construction, so he is therefore excited to be working on opening up and enhancing the magical waterways which flow through the village.
Earlier this year we partnered with self-styled 'queen of shops' Mary Portas, who helped us through a journey of creating a new identity for the village. We are excited to reveal our new name is The Guild Wiltshire. Our new name has been created to celebrate Wilton’s rich heritage of skills and craftsmanship to bring together a vibrant community of makers and doers in a place where people can enjoy shopping, eating and spending time together. It's not just a new identity and logo, as Mary imparted so much more on that journey to help us make fundamental changes. We will be seeking to inspire visitors to make meaningful connections with our brands and we want to put people before consumers and kindness before profit to ensure we create something truly memorable, sustainable and worthy of such a historic and vibrant town as Wilton.
We are committed to investing not only in the built environment but also in people, by providing platforms to enable small businesses to flourish, employment opportunities to local people and supporting the wider local economies of Wilton and Salisbury.
Even amid all the challenges thrown at us this year, we believe we have never been in a healthier place to embark of this exciting new chapter in the history of Wilton Shopping Village.
