The premises of a former off-licence in Dundee city centre has been vacant for exactly 5,000 days.
Victoria Wine left its Reform Street unit on November 25 2009 after parent company First Quench went into administration.
For more than 13 years since then, the shop, situated on the corner with Bank Street, has been empty.
It is the premises that has been empty longest of the streets surveyed by The Courier’s high street tracker.
Signs for Victoria Wine and sister company Threshers are still visible on the building, with offers including bulk discounts, free glass loans and a delivery service.
Inside there is still shelving used for wine bottles, with a price tag for a £6.49 bottle of cabernet sauvignon visible through the window.
Why has Dundee premises been vacant for so long?
Quite why the double-fronted shop, just 300 metres from the Overgate Shopping Centre, has been empty for so long is a mystery.
Following the opening of V&A Dundee and before Covid hit, Reform Street went through a resurgence as businesses such as Project Pizza, German Donor Kebab, Coffee & Co, Dai Pai Asia Street Food and Blend coffee house opened up.
Taco Bell and Fridays and Go followed last year – but the number of empty units has also increased.
Blend closed last month while the units which once contained clothes shop Cooper and McKenzie, Hynds Amusement Arcade and Amplifon have been vacant for more than four years.
Currently The Courier high street tracker shows that almost a quarter of the street’s 34 units are vacant.
Victoria Wine building offered for sale
DM Hall had been marketing the Victoria Wine property for rent for offers of around £20,000 a year.
It is now offering the property for sale for offers in the region of £160,000.
As well as the 79 square metre retail space, it also has a 115 sq m basement.
The sales brochure describes Reform Street as “one of the main commercial thoroughfares” in Dundee city centre.
It adds: “The property benefits from an excellent retail frontage to both Reform Street and Bank Street comprising four full height timber/ glazed display windows with a recessed, double timber/glazed entrance door.
“Internally, the property provides an open plan retail space at ground floor level with rear store and a staircase leading to a large basement.”
DM Hall declined to comment on the sales process.
Threshers, Victoria Wine and Threshers collapse
The Reform Street premises was one of several First Quench premises in Tayside and Fife which closed after the administration. All the other units are currently occupied.
Victoria Wine in Broughty Ferry’s Brook Street is now Scott Brothers butchers.
The Dunfermline East Port branch is now Dunfermline Nails & Spa while its Forfar Castle Street shop is a Greggs.
The Crieff branch at James Square has remained an off-licence, becoming Ellies Cellar. In Blairgowrie, the High Street outlet is now Cateran Café.
Haddows in Leonard Street, Perth, is now a Ladbrokes. The Dunfermline Haddows, in Abbey View, is now iSee Opticians.
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