I’ve often commented on how many retailers need fewer shops. Those mature retailers that over the years have assembled a 250-store estate generally wish today they had only 150 and a strong ecommerce site.

I’ve often commented on how many retailers need fewer shops. Those mature retailers that over the years have assembled a 250-store estate generally wish today they had only 150 and a strong ecommerce site.

Of course, this is very much an overall view, and retailers are still finding opportunities for new stores in the large conurbations and the better out-of-town locations.

You would have thought that the last thing they need is yet another shopping location, but apparently not.

Last week brought the opening of the London Designer Outlet in Wembley with 350,000 sq ft of selling space. The centre will ultimately comprise more than 70 stores.

The current line-up includes high street names such as Marks & Spencer, Gap and Superdry, more niche fashion brands such as Phase Eight, LK Bennett and Guess, sports brands Nike and Adidas and a range of catering outlets.

Will the London Designer Outlet be successful? It probably will. Assuming it manages to let all the space, parking and transport are good (unless there is an event on at Wembley Stadium) and a very large catchment area exists within an hour’s travelling time.

Combined with a Cineworld multiplex cinema, the centre will provide a good day out for the family. And all consumers love a bargain.

Of course, the opening will affect some neighbouring shopping locations but not the powerhouses in the West End and at Westfield. The economic mass that is London can absorb this addition. It wouldn’t be the same elsewhere in the UK.

The best execution in the UK of the outlet channel is at Bicester Village, comprising 130 stores and with extension plans for a further 30 outlets. Opened in 1992 and with no immediate nearby catchment of any size, it has successfully become the destination for consumers seeking high-end brands at discounted prices.

Deliberately pitched at designer brands with a smattering of mid-price labels, the scheme houses both a huge array of luxury retailers - including Gucci, Dior, Tag Heuer and Tod’s - and stores at the more aspirational end of mid-price such as Reiss, Ted Baker and Karen Millen.

There is probably a good reason why the orange hotpants didn’t sell at full price in the Bond Street store but they will definitely fly off the rack with 75% off at Bicester.

The standards at the centre both in the stores, in terms of the quality of the shopfit and retail merchandising, and the surrounding walkway areas between the shops are impeccable.

The operators have managed to create a genuine ‘village’ feel in a shopping destination that didn’t exist 20 years ago. No wonder hordes of tourists from all countries, and particularly from Asia, are prepared to make the pilgrimage to Oxfordshire.

The London Designer Outlet at Wembley may succeed because of its proximity to the centre of the capital and immediate catchment population but Bicester Village really has changed the retail map for the outlet channel.

  • Peter Williams is non-executive director of Asos and a former Selfridges chief executive