Johan Anselmsson calls the large chains anchor stores, the ones that form the basis for trade in the city.

On Kullagatan in Helsingborg, the shopping center in the city's central parts, several anchor stores have dropped out and chosen Väla shopping center instead.

- There is a risk that more people will follow.

When the big ones disappear, the air can go out of the whole trade, he says.

Accessibility important

But more cities than Helsingborg are struggling with the same problem.

- This development has been going on for many years in most major cities.

But in Helsingborg, I think that we may have reached a tipping point, that a development has gone so far that it will continue in the same direction as before but very fast.

Johan Anselmsson points to a couple of main reasons.

- Availability is extremely important for customers.

It should be easy and convenient to get to the stores and get the goods home.

Otherwise you choose Väla.

But politicians must also take the environment into account when dealing with car traffic, these are not easy decisions.

The second reason is e-commerce.

- It has increased sharply, not least during the pandemic.

Too late

He also says that free and more parking spaces might have helped five or six years ago.

- When the anchor stores move, it is too late.

Despite this, Johan Anselmsson is optimistic:

- Everything will work out.

North becomes new South

But maybe not go back to the old.

- It may be that the model for trade in the South spreads to the north.

Small, odd shops, some with goods from another culture.

It would open up for a different type of customers than today's city guests.

But the great mass would continue to go to Väla.

Hear Johan Anselmsson tell more about his view of trade in central Helsingborg.