Ocean Terminal is a three story shopping centre on the dock end of Leith. It is a collection of retailers with restaurants, a gym and a cinema thrown in for good measure.
This isn’t a review of Ocean Terminal. I don’t think it’s possible to review an ecosystem that’s so variable in any meaningful way. It’s possible to walk around an almost empty Ocean Terminal and enjoy the space and all the customer service you could ask for. It’s equally possible to turn up while there’s a large passenger ship in the harbour, the schools are out and a blockbuster is on and find yourself in a busy mall.
Ocean Terminal always feels like it is carefully balanced. It feels like if it was to lose one or two key shops then it would sink below the radar and slide towards oblivion. Equally, it also feels like it is only a big name or two off becoming an extremely popular hub in Edinburgh.
The site is well tended by busses and dependant on transport routes. There are plenty of car parking spaces and it may be heresy to say so but Ocean Terminal would have benefited from the trams.