The retailer, which is headed by Gadget Shop founder Jonathan Elvidge, wants to exit its permanent site and lease a temporary store in the centre just for the Christmas period from 2008.
Elvidge said that Bluewater’s use of temporary stores to fill vacant units over the Christmas period is unfair to permanent retailers – particularly those in the gift industry, which make the majority of their profits in the last three months of the year.
“We are going to put our lease on the market next year and will endeavour to get out of Bluewater. We’ll then reapply for the lease next Christmas and get a temporary let. We’ll be considerably better off if we just open for the last three months,” said Elvidge.
“If landlords want to adopt that approach during the Christmas period, they should offer us the opportunity to close for 10 months of the year.”
Russell Loveland, head of leasing at Bluewater landlord Lend Lease, said that he had not been informed about the situation. “We’ve worked very hard with Red 5 in the past few months and would be very disappointed to lose its business,” he said.
“We’ve had conversations with Jonathan Elvidge – he wasn’t happy with some of the mall trading – but we’ve not been informed of this decision. Wherever possible, we wouldn’t let someone a space adjacent to a competitor and we’ve had no temporary traders competing with Red 5.”
Bluewater is widely regarded as the UK’s premier shopping centre, but some smaller retailers have struggled to make profits because of the centre’s high rents.
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