Full house at birthday party.

JOBS are being created at a Teesside shopping centre - which is also celebrating 100% occupancy.

Every unit at Middlesbrough's Captain Cook Square - which opened 10 years ago today - is now currently let, including one of its biggest which was left vacant after the collapse of music, DVD and games retailer Zavvi earlier this year.

Retailers Au Naturale and Ethel Austin have taken over the 10,000sq ft store which is due to open on Friday, creating 22 jobs.

Meanwhile Milligans Bakery opened a new branch at the centre yesterday.

Lynn Stainsby, centre manager at Captain Cook Square, said: "It's good to see a new tenant in the former Zavvi store.

"It closed in the middle of February and has been empty since then.

"Ethel Austin and Au Naturale have both been based at the centre before and it's good to welcome them back.

"It means we are now 100% let at the moment which is unusual - but great news."

She added: "It's been a difficult 18 months for the retail trade - but Captain Cook Square seems to be bucking the trend."

Around 100 million people have visited the centre in the last 10 years. Footfall is currently around 3% down, standing at around 12.5 million a year.

"Footfall is slightly down," added Lynn, "but we didn't have a very good summer and being an outdoor centre, that can affect us.

"But things have certainly started to pick up again."

An expected rise in high street sales ahead of January's VAT hike failed to materialise last month as official figures last week revealed flat sales between August and September.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed the second month in a row of zero growth in retail sales volumes.

Experts had expected sales to rise by 0.5% as they predicted an early seasonal rush by shoppers to buy now and avoid the Government's move to increase VAT back to 17.5% from the temporary reduction to 15%.

Captain Cook Square's busiest week is between Christmas and New Year and Lynn said shoppers may look to cash in on tax savings in the final days of the year.

"I think some people have not realised VAT is going back up in the new year," she added.

"With every day purchases you don't feel the effect of the cut so much - but on bigger items it really comes into play."

THE Parkway Shopping Centre in Coulby Newham says it is beating the national footfall trend as well as introducing new stores.

For the fourth month in succession footfall at the centre has increased annually. The trend taken from Experian Footfall''s measuring system shows that visitor numbers to the centre increased in September 2009 by more than 2% compared with the same month a year ago.

In comparison the national picture has seen footfall to shopping centres fall by 2%. On a weekly basis the shopping centre attracts more than 100,000 customers.

The Parkway Shopping Centre has also introduced a number of new names to its offering including Specsavers and William Hill.

Centre director Rory Fleming said: "The centre is performing extremely well particularly when you take into consideration the current difficulties the retail and shopping centre industries are facing. We are now attracting customers from parts of south Middlesbrough and North Yorkshire who are returning to the centre two or three times per week."

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GREAT NEWS: Lynn Stainsby