Sovereign Centros has agreed new 10-year retail and leisure leases at Glasgow’s St Enoch Centre, as toy retailer Hamleys reduces its footprint at the mall by three-quarters.
Hamleys will downsize its 30,000 sq ft presence at the centre by 75%, relocating to a new 7,500 sq ft ground-floor unit in the summer.
This new shop will be leased to the retailer, which opened its first store at the centre in 2009, for 10 years.
New tenants include discount department store retailer TJ Hughes, which is relocating from Trongate to open a 36,000 sq ft store on a 15-year lease.
Competitive socialising venture Boom Battle Bar will take up a 10,000 sq ft location in the upper mall, signing a 10-year lease for its debut in Scotland.
The entertainment franchise operates nine existing locations across England and Wales, and offers a mix of activities including axe-throwing, “crazier golf”, boules, electric darts, shuffleboard, skee-ball, pool and curling. The venue will also include a street food concept.
The news comes after H&M renewed the lease for its 32,000 sq ft store at the centre, also for 10 years.
These deals were above the national average for lease lengths in 2020, which have been steadily declining for the past few years. Figures from Radius Data Exchange show that the average lease length in Scotland is 7.3 years, while the national average stands at 7.4 years.
Matt Elgey, asset and development manager at the St Enoch Centre for Sovereign Centros, said: “The retail and leisure market has seen what we have been creating within the centre and is keen to be part of it.
“The addition of 100,000 sq ft of retail and leisure will extend the centre’s opening hours and should increase turnover for many of our existing retailers too. There is a lot of student living and residential development in the pipeline at the Argyle Street end of the city, and many of the new occupants will benefit from our new facilities.”
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