Are there too many phone shops in Ipswich or are they needed

The opening of iRepair and iVape in the former Hotter Shoes shop in Tavern Street means there are now 11 phone shops along the high street in Ipswich.

iRepair has opened next door to Fone Tech, a phone shop which has been in the town for a while.

Concern has been raised by residents and businesses that there are too many of these shops in the town.

Will Hamer, co-owner of Threads for All in The Walk, said: "I think it’s really disheartening to local businesses that are fighting hard to start their new businesses or for existing ones to keep their businesses afloat, then these guys pop up everywhere and seem to somehow succeed in a clearly saturated market.

Will Hamer (Image: Tom Cann)

"I also feel that it devalues the town - nobody’s going to come and “visit” Ipswich to see its many phone shops, we need unique stores, more variety etc that are going to bring people in.

"There are so many residents of the town posting about these issues too yet the council don't seem to take any action on it or even acknowledge that it’s a bit odd, they need to be held accountable for the town centre."

Carole Jones, Ipswich Borough Council portfolio holder for planning, offered a different view.

She said: "Phone shops are a real sign of the times.

Councillor Carole Jones (Image: Charlotte Bond)

"80 years ago there would have been numerous pubs in the town centre and in every other town across Britain, now the one thing pretty much everyone has is a mobile phone and shops/services will follow that demand.

"Phone repair shops and phone sales shops open because there is a demand - that will be true for Ipswich and elsewhere."

According to statistics from Uswitch, at the start of 2022 there were 71.8 million mobile connections in the UK, 4.2 million more than the population.

By 2025, it is predicted that 95% of the population will be smartphone users.

Phone Expert in Ipswich town centre (Image: Tom Cann)

Cllr Jones continued: "These stats perhaps support the prevalence of phone shops in town centres.

"Town centres are changing but one thing that doesn't change is that to success, shops need our support.

"Personally I shop only in Ipswich - it's a simple fact that if we don't support our own businesses, they will die."

This publication has approached a number of phone shops in Ipswich, but has received no responses.

The shops do make use of vacant shops that have been left empty for a number of years, with iRepair taking over a premises which has been closed since 2020.

Fone Tech and iRepair next to each other (Image: Will Hamer)

iCrack in Westgate Street opened last month while Phone Expert opened in the former Accessorize in October 2023.

Along with Ipswich's independent and smaller chain phone repair shops, the town also has the biggest shops in the sector in the UK, Apple and Timpsons.

More statistics from IBISWorld show that there are 626 businesses in the mobile phone repair sector in the UK, which has grown at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 5.1% between 2019 and 2024.

This number is expected to grow over the next five years.

iRepair is to open in the former Hotter Shoes in Ipswich (Image: Tom Cann)