Regional malls are a well-established phenomenon, and the best continue to pull in shoppers, but what is being done to keep them current?

Underpinning every retail success story is the store, and for an individual branch in a chain to succeed, one of the most important factors is location.

Shoppers  till  cash point  paying

Shoppers till cash point paying

The shoppers keep coming

This is one of those retail truisms that ranks alongside ‘the right thing at the right time’, but it spite of the sense of cliché, it seems to be increasingly important as shopping centres vie with each other to become ‘destinations’.

Practically, this means that the pressure for space in the biggest shopping centres continues unabated, but it also means that those at the top of the pile have their work cut out to maintain their position as consumer favourites.

It is in fact fairly straightforward to identify the runners and riders in the shopping centre stakes, even without the benefit of numbers (although there are numerous lists ranking the biggest, largely by turnover).

To this end, Bluewater, The Trafford Centre, the two Westfield malls in London, the Bullring and Manchester’s Arndale all loom large, among a host of others, and although some of them are now relatively mature, they keep attracting shoppers.

Shopping centre  mall  shoppers  john lewis

Shopping centre mall shoppers john lewis

Malls know they must constantly evolve

The question that comes out of this is what needs to be done to keep a mall pulling in shoppers, and has the nature of a ‘destination’ changed over time?

Current trends seem to be towards retailers looking for bigger spaces and the larger the chain, the larger the spaces that are desired.

This poses problems for mall-owners who want to offer something other than retail.

Leisure has been one of the key elements that crystal-ball-gazers have been proposing as the way forward for wannabe destinations, and this in turn means more space – for cinemas, events, dining and the occasional casino.

All of which means that that the biggest owner-developers of shopping centre space – Intu, Land Securities and Westfield – have to keep thinking about what they are doing and whether what they do is relevant.

There is more to a modern destination than a bunch of shops and some covered parking, but where are we headed?

Eldon Square and the Victoria Centre – Intu

The stats on Intu’s website inform the curious that in 2014, shoppers spent £5.5bn in the group’s 21 shopping centres off the back of 400 million customer visits.

Since 2008, Intu’s portfolio has doubled in size and, according to development director Martin Breeden, the main effort involved in all of this has been “to create a sense of place”.

Breeden cites Nottingham’s Victoria Centre, which has undergone extensive refurbishment, as a case in point: “The entrance is treble-height, but it’s an illusion because what’s behind this is John Lewis. What we’ve ended up with is a landmark feature.”

intu Victoria Centre entrance

intu Victoria Centre entrance

Victoria Centre in Nottingham

Inside the centre is The Clock Tower, a water-powered feature designed by Rowland Emett in 1973. It has been undergoing restoration and is now at the heart of a new “catering cluster”, as Breeden puts it.

“You need some sort of focal point,” he says, adding: “The centre has to put its stamp on the mall environment. When we work with retailers, we do have to have some control over what they do, but you don’t want to choke down creativity.”

“The centre has to put its stamp on the mall environment. When we work with retailers, we do have to have some control over what they do, but you don’t want to choke down creativity”

Martin Breeden, Intu

Like others, Intu provides its tenants with ‘design guides’. It then employs architects and design agencies to look at what is being proposed and to offer Intu “a sense of whether they’re [the retailers] headed in the right direction when creating a new store”, according to Breeden.

But does this mean that the shots are called by Intu or the retailers, as far as the mall interior is concerned?

“It’s the retail brands who will probably tell you when a refurbishment is required, if you haven’t already reached that conclusion yourself,” says Breeden.

At its most basic, keeping a centre up to scratch probably means new floors, lighting and ceilings, which is what Intu has done at its Eldon Square centre in Newcastle, but for true place-makers it may be a matter of doing something different.

intu Eldon Square external

intu Eldon Square external

Eldon Square in Newcastle

Internationally, Intu operates malls in Spain, and in its treatment of its Asturias mall, Breedon says that a number of improvements have been undertaken at low cost. These, he says, have yielded a “high impact”, including animals made out of recycled flip-flops and the creation of external restaurant terraces.

There is more to creating destinations than just throwing money at a mall and hoping for the best.

Bluewater – Land Securities

When a disused chalk pit in Kent was transformed into a shopping centre in 1999, it was quite hard to imagine how it might be improved even further.

Designed by a celebrated architect with easy access from the nearby motorway network, Bluewater was viewed by many retailers as a location where the best foot had to be put forward and consequently became a location with flagship status stores at almost every turn.

Next Bluewater 2

Next Bluewater 2

Next at Bluewater is one of the stores set to expand

The mall has just celebrated its 17th birthday and much has happened over the years, but how has Bluewater managed to maintain its high-profile status and what has been done to keep it current?

Russell Loveland, portfolio director at Bluewater owner Land Securities, talks of “mini-majors” as far as the tenants at the mall are concerned.

This has meant a stream of retailers creating bigger stores. “On the mini-majors, we looked at what we had and decided that we looked a bit behind the times,” says Loveland.

He continues: “For us, what is important is to have great examples of the best retailers and after that to have great new restaurants.”

At Bluewater, this has meant a bigger Next and Zara and an H&M that will double in size to 40,000 sq ft when works are complete.

“For us, what is important is to have great examples of the best retailers and after that to have great new restaurants”

Russell Loveland, Land Securities

“It’s a matter of making proper statement stores and making sure that they are the best that you are going to see in the UK,” says Loveland.

He adds: “If you don’t have this, it doesn’t matter how good the restaurants you have are.”

On digital, Loveland is clear: “Digital is almost a hygiene factor, it’s a fundamental, as are the concierge services that we offer.”

Loveland says that keeping Bluewater and the other centres in the Land Securities estate current is a matter of “constant evolution” and that typically he would expect 25-30 new lettings to be done at the Kent mall per annum.

H M Bluewater 1

H M Bluewater 1

H&M at Bluewater is to double in size to 40,000 sq ft

Westfield London and Stratford – Westfield

With just two shopping centres, to the east and west of central London – the first of which opened towards the end of the last decade – there would be some justification in regarding Westfield as the junior partner in the mall development game.

Yet in spite of this, both malls have risen to the top of the shopping centre tree as far as turnover is concerned. Westfield Stratford, which opened in 2011, recently overtook Westfield London with sales of £1.1bn.

Itsu Westfield

Itsu Westfield

Itsu at Westfield

Even though both are relatively new, however, they, like others, will not be immune to the ravages of time and the need for a programme of updating.

Peter Miller, chief operating officer, says that deals were already conducted ahead of the opening of Westfield London to facilitate future expansion. The shopping centre is being extended by 740,000 sq ft at present, and at some point in 2018 it will be the biggest mall in Europe.

Rather more to the point is that there will not be a disconnect between the old and new parts of the mall, according to Miller, who says that “revitalisation and adapting the asset to the market” have been central to keeping it current.

Or put another way, close to 40% of the retailers present in Westfield London when it launched are no longer there – ‘churn’ is a powerful tool for mall owners.

Jigsaw Westfield

Jigsaw Westfield

Jigsaw at Westfield

For the retailers on site at both Westfield centres, the stores themselves have, like at Bluewater, been getting bigger. Keith Mabbett, director of leasing, points to the H&M in Westfield London, which is poised to grow from 27,000 sq ft to 64,000 sq ft as an example.

He dismisses the question of whether this makes it the UK’s biggest: “You’re the biggest for about five minutes until the next one comes along. What matters is that the range is all that an H&M can offer.

“When you look at what we do, a large part of our life is dictated by retailer trends and human demands.”

As for the mall extension, there will be a heavy emphasis on food, as well as a John Lewis, mirroring the pattern that has been followed in Stratford.

It is worth bearing in mind however that size is not everything. As Miller puts it: “You lose customers if you don’t provide an experience.” 

Trends in shopping centre design

Bigger stores get bigger

Dining at all levels helps placemaking

The meaning of ‘experience’ becomes broader

Malls are no longer just places where consumers shop

‘Digital’ should be a hygiene factor within malls