Quintain’s London Designer Outlet will be the first of its kind within the M25 – and a key part of the wider regeneration of Wembley. Will it score with visitors and locals? Stacey Meadwell reports
Later this year a couple of milestones will be reached in north-west London. First, the capital will see the opening of its first designer outlet shopping centre; and second, the centre’s opening will signal the halfway mark of a 20-year, 1.8m sq ft regeneration project around Wembley Stadium.
Quintain’s London Designer Outlet, which has just announced a raft of new lettings, will be the first discount shopping centre inside the M25, putting it within reach of 5.8m people.
It opens at a time when designer outlet shopping malls are proving ever more popular and resilient in troubled economic times. Value Retail’s Bicester Village in Oxfordshire has become a destination of choice for tourists with 65% of its visitors from overseas. And while Quintain’s aim is to make the London Designer Outlet a destination for those within an hour’s travel time and a key part of the wider Wembley offer, it is hoping to also appeal to locals.
Quintain chief operating officer, James Saunders, says it is important for the developer that the centre appeals to the scheme’s neighbours. Unlike most designer outlets, it is in an urban area.
“There are other parts of Wembley that have a high-street model of retail and we wanted something different,” says Saunders of the decision to opt for outlet rather than high-street retail.
“Aside from providing the discounted retail synonymous with designer outlets, (see panel) leisure forms a big part of the 350,000 sq ft scheme. As well as 15 restaurants and bars it has a nine-screen Cineworld cinema.
“We wanted to create an amenity that is relevant to the local community… the restaurant offer is very limited at the moment,” says Saunders.
Part of that is to ensure that the centre appeals to the diverse socio-economic backgrounds and ethnic diversity of its local residents. The Hindu festival of stars will feature in the opening celebrations and there will be a multicultural food market.
Saunders reckons there are 780,000 people within a 20-minute travel time of the London Designer Outlet, but is also hoping it will pick up business from the circa 4m annual visitors to Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena.
Deals this week signed to Tog24 and Zizzi’s means the centre is 60% let by floorspace with further deals in solicitors hands. Saunders expects it to be fully let within 12 months of opening. He says: “We are trying to achieve the right mix of brands and, inevitably, in an outlet you choose to hold some space back for those brands you want that might be slower to commit.”
When the centre opens it will mark the halfway point and the completion of the first phase of Quintain’s 20-year Wembley regeneration project. It is a mixed-use scheme including residential, offices and a new civic centre – some 1.8m sq ft of development in total.
Developers often talk of schemes gaining momentum and Saunders describes the London Designer Outlet as a “game-changer”. Quintain’s regeneration site includes two existing retail parks and the developer has secured a partial open A1 consent for Wembley Retail Park. That change of use coupled with the near complete outlet is sparking interest in vacant units there.
Sprucing the centres and letting vacant units is phase three of the regeneration programme with phase two being more residential development. Come the autumn, London will have a new retail kid on the block and an important player in the changing face of Wembley, where some 12m visitors a year are expected.
What is a designer outlet?
Designer outlet shopping centres differ from mainstream shopping malls for two main reasons.
First, retailers offer end-of-season or end of line stock at discounts of up to 60%. Second, landlords generally offer short leases with rents based on turnover. Some landlords have lease clauses that enable them to move underperforming retailers.
Units are generally uniform in size and design throughout each centre with retailer fit-out also more basic to keep costs down. During the recession, designer outlets have proved resilient.
? Around 50 designer outlet centres in the UK
? McArthur Glen’s Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet is the largest in the UK
? 65% of visitors to Value Retail’s Bicester Village are foreign tourists
? Quintain’s London Designer Outlet will be the first of its kind inside the M25
? Mintel research in 2011 showed one in six luxury goods shoppers bought at designer outlet centres
? 5.8m people have London Designer Outlet as their nearest outlet centre – the largest catchment density for any UK outlet
