TOP TOWNS RANKING 11

Key Facts

Total floorspace: 1.2 million sq ft (110,120 sq m)

Missing retailers in central Cardiff: French Connection, Beaverbrooks, Crabtree & Evelyn, Jigsaw, John Lewis, TM Lewin, Whistles

Under-sized retailers in central Cardiff: Marks & Spencer (-35,427 sq ft), TK Maxx (-25,794 sq ft), Primark (-21,456 sq ft), New Look (-9,559 sq ft), JJB Sports (-9,156 sq ft)

Top five centres that share the central Cardiff total catchment: Newport (8 per cent), Pontypridd (7 per cent), Bridgend ((5 per cent), Caerphilly (4 per cent), Cardiff Bay Retail Park (4 per cent)

Areas of highest rental growth over the past five years: Queen Street (3.3 per cent)

Average rental growth over the past five years: 4 per cent

Latest deals: M&S and JJB Sports have signed to Capital Retail Park, while TK Maxx has taken a unit at the David Morgan centre

New developments: the extension to St David’s will give the centre 400, 000 sq ft (37,160 sq m) of extra space, taking it to 750,000 sq ft (69,675 sq m). Two new builds, Capital Retail Park, measuring 438,708 sq ft (40,755 sq m) and David Morgan, at 121,000 sq ft (11,240 sq m) are also in the pipeline. The latter is under construction already.

Source: Experian/rental data from Churston Heard

St David’s Shopping Centre in Cardiff is undergoing a£675 million refurbishment and extension. Developers Land Securities and Capital Shopping Centres say the new section, dubbed St David’s 2, will increase annual spending in the city by£250 million when it opens in 2009 and propel the Welsh capital into the top five UK retail cities.

St David’s 2 is intended to entice big high street chains to open second stores in Cardiff, but some doubt whether many will want to open outlets so close to their stores on the city’s main thoroughfare Queen Street.

High street chains Next and Marks & Spencer are committed to their Queen Street stores, but might consider second sites at St David’s 2, while Primark is understood to be looking for more space in the city.

New Look, which has a store in Queens Arcade, is expected to take a second site in St David’s, which is viewed as a regional shopping centre. Queens Arcade is said to be the city’s hub for everyday shopping.

John Lewis will anchor the St David’s 2 extension, which is spread over two levels. The first floor
is intended to house top-end retailers, while
the ground floor will focus on the national multiples.

Hartnell Taylor Cook partner Chris Thomas expects the development to bring in more retailers to Cardiff, but adds: “A couple of retailers are sitting on their hands to wait and see what happens before making a decision. The prime pitches on Queen Street are likely to shorten and we might see a few voids on the edges of the street as a result.”

The retail property market in Cardiff is doing well, according to Thomas. “There are few voids. The economy in South Wales is going very well, so the market is buoyant,” he says. New entrants include Peacocks, which has opened one of its first new-format city centre flagships on the high street. Jessops has chosen the city to test its World Camera Chain concept.

Another significant development is the relocation of TK Maxx to a larger, 35,000 sq ft (3,252 sq m) unit in the David Morgan department store building on Queen Street. TK Maxx chose Cardiff to unveil its first department store-style format in June.

Borders, a new entrant to Cardiff, has taken a unit near TK Maxx and is due to open imminently. Independent Southwest department store Rossiters will also bring its upper-middle market format to Cardiff.

The city is well protected from out-of-town developments, according to Thomas. “There are no open A1 schemes. The city has been very tight on controlling that and protecting the town centre, unlike Swansea. There are some retail parks, but there is no dominant fashion park and that means people tend to do their fashion shopping in Cardiff centre.”

Demographics

Population 2.5 million

Total retail spend£9.32 billion

Weighted shopper population 523,319

Index of population with internet access 95

Cars per household 0.98

Annual gross household income£26,238

Most over-represented occupation Elementary

Most over-represented age band 15-24

Source: Experian