Some entrepreneurs at Dockyard's Clocktower shopping centre fear the mall is no longer a place for small, unique businesses.

The West End Development Corporation (Wedco) is now "too interested in the bottom line,'' one tenant, speaking anonymously, claimed yesterday.

"In terms of money (the shopping centre) far exceeded expectations and now other well established businesses have been given an opportunity to come in,'' the tenant said. "The original plan was lost.'' Another tenant, also asking not to be named, said: "This was designed as an alternative (to Front Street), an alternative designed for small businesses, one that gave the little guy a chance, but now Front Street is here.'' Small businesses which have recently left the mall include Lugger Bits 'N Pieces, Tigaila Candleworks and Victoriana antiques.

And women's clothing and accessory shop Island Fever Bermuda will close for good later this month. Hall of Names is also on the move.

One of the original shops, Island Fever was opened six years ago while Hall of Names, which provides information about surname origins, was opened three years ago.

Hall of Names operator John Doherty said he plans to move into Butterfield Place, the retail part of the Bank of Butterfield on Front Street.

The first two years were incredible but this past year, "numbers just seemed to drop off'', he said.

"I'll be sad to go but I have to go where the people are,'' he said.

Victoriana owner Carole Holding said there had been a change in focus at the mall.

Wedco had not planned to allow larger Front Street retailers in, but that changed, she said.

She also said she moved Victoriana to her Front Street art store. The move made more business sense, she said.

Photographer Roland Skinner is opening a branch of his Picturesque shop on Front Street in the old Victoriana location.

It is the lack of bigger shops that made the mall "unique'', one tenant said.

Making the mall a "mini-downtown'' may backfire and deter local traffic, she said.

Wedco development manager Ed Williams declined to discuss individual tenants.

"We deal with issues with our tenants. The Corporation won't discuss landlord/tenant issues in public,'' he said. "Any time you start to develop a destination such as this, there will be casualties and there will be successes. The majority have been successes.'' On whether or not Wedco had changed its focus, Mr. Williams said: "We continue to have unique shops.'' In a release late yesterday afternoon, Wedco confirmed five of the mall's 27 retail tenants had not renewed leases.

It also said: "It must be appreciated that persons who own businesses from time to time must reassess their businesses and either reinvest, switch gears or close shop.

"The suggestion that we are forcing smaller businesses out of the centre to make room for larger businesses is patently false, as anyone who has visited the Royal Naval Dockyard during this Christmas shopping season will attest.

"Critics of Wedco's policy of operating the Clocktower shopping centre as a commercial entity would do well to consider how methods of charging for floor space compare with most of those used in other parts of the Island and that our method in fact offers assistance to merchants during the slower season.'' Beethoven's Bistro co-owner Bruno Heeb said the shopping centre rental agreement "allows us to survive the slow times, like now''.

Wedco's revenue, used for further development, is generated through a base rent/ten percent of gross sales formula.

WEDCO WOES -- Some Dockyard tenants are unhappy with the direction of the Clock Tower shopping mall.

BUSINESS BUC