Fashion entrepreneur Harold Tillman has secured the future of his Allders department store in Croydon after joining forces with landlord Minerva to create a revised and relocated shopping centre in the town centre.
Tillman, who also owns Jaeger, said he had finalised a deal with Minerva under which he will personally invest in the new proposed scheme, in which the existing Allders will be the anchor tenant.
Minerva recently failed to get planning consent for a new shopping centre in Croydon. It would have been situated at the opposite end of the town to Allders and threatened to overshadow the UK’s largest independent department store. The new centre was to have been be anchored by John Lewis.
Tillman said that Minerva’s original development had been deemed too large for the catchment area but that he had worked with the property firm to create a new centre with the Allders unit at its heart.
Tillman said: “We have a good relationship with Minerva. We have 20 years left on the lease of Allders. We are going to build a shopping centre around Allders. The store will continue to trade from 175,000 sq ft but we will convert some of the ancillary and storage space into new retail units.”
Tillman said that the scheme would take between three and five years to complete.
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