Plentiful stocks of optimism

News

16 January 1999

The recently revamped Churchill Square shopping centre has received enthusiastic endorsements from retailers.
Jane Roberts reports

There is no sign of post-Christmas blues among retailers at Brighton’s revamped Churchill Square shopping centre. Far from nursing the kind of hangovers induced by surplus stock, which many retailers were complaining of late last year, Standard Life’s tenants are largely upbeat about sales.
The 43,663m² (470,000 sq ft) scheme reopened four months ago after a three-year redevelopment programme costing £90m. Many existing retailers, such as Mothercare and Bhs, stayed, some taking more space in the shopping centre. But nearly half the 83 shops and restaurants are making their debuts in the town and some are new, or relatively new, to the UK.
Among them are Origins, the first Estee Lauder stand-alone store outside the US. Its manageress is “thrilled” by trading so far. Also new are @Jakarta, Dixons’ new computer games concept, and Feed the Five Thousand, the sandwich bar chain hoping to emulate Pret A Manger’s success.

The heart of the scheme

FTK5 trades from the “duplex” level above the shopping centre’s two main trading levels, overlooking the promotional court at the heart of the scheme. Manager Chris McAngus says: “I think it’s a good scheme. The footfall is really high. Considering we are on the top floor, the number of people coming up is amazing.”
Some of the retailers say the area around the promotional court and north of it to Western Road feels the busiest. The anchors here include Bhs, WH Smith and Borders. The central mall runs from the promotional court south to Debenhams, the scheme’s other big anchor.

Competitive retail market in Brighton

@Jakarta trades close to Debenhams on the upper level. Nigel Morgan, one of the @Jakarta Brighton store’s three managers, says the store didn’t meet its initial targets after its 4 December opening, which were partly based on experience at the only other @Jakarta to open so far, a similar-sized store at Lakeside in Thurrock.
Morgan says: “Lakeside is doing double the amount of revenue but then there’s a lot of competition elsewhere in Churchill Square and in Western Road. Trade also tails off here in the mid-afternoon. But there are days when we are very busy.”
Rents are also considerably lower at Churchill Square than at Lakeside or some of the other new shopping centres that opened last year, such as The Mall at Cribbs Causeway near Bristol or the Trafford Centre. At Churchill Square, H&M are paying the top rent, £170 zone A, trading on to Western Road. The rental tone nearby is £140 to £150 zone A while it is £120 zone A on the upper mall and £80-£90 zone A on the lower mall.
Standard Life’s Mike Hannigan, who led the Churchill Square development team and was recently promoted to head the Scottish fund’s entire retail portfolio, hopes rents on the lower level will close the gap and that the prime pitch from Western Road will eventually extend further back through the development.

Weekly footfall climbing

He praises the good visibility up and down from each level and points out that upper mall retailers including Next, C&J Clark, River Island and Virgin have opted to trade from the duplex level above. “It’s a much bigger scheme than people realise until they start to shop there.”
Shoppers seem to like it. Weekly footfall at the shopping centre has climbed steadily from around 170,000 to about 300,000, peaking at 400,000 in December.
Tenants seem to like it too. Lynsey Simpson, who runs branded fashion store Envy, says: “I think this centre’s brilliant. I’ve worked around the country and this scheme’s really got atmosphere.”

The recently revamped Churchill Square shopping centre has received enthusiastic endorsements from retailers. Jane Roberts reports There is no sign of post-Christmas blues among retailers at Brighton’s revamped Churchill Square shopping centre. Far from nursing the kind of hangovers induced by surplus stock, which many retailers were complaining of late last year, Standard Life’s tenants are largely upbeat about sales. The 43,663m2 (470,000 sq ft) scheme reopened four months ago after a three-year redevelopment programme costing £90m. Many existing retailers, such as Mothercare and Bhs, stayed, some taking more space in the shopping centre. But nearly half the 83 shops and restaurants are making their debuts in the town and some are new, or relatively new, to the UK. Among them are Origins, the first Estee Lauder stand-alone store outside the US. Its manageress is “thrilled” by trading so far. Also new are @Jakarta, Dixons’ new computer games concept, and Feed the Five Thousand, the sandwich bar chain hoping to emulate Pret A Manger’s success. The heart of the scheme FTK5 trades from the “duplex” level above the shopping centre’s two main trading levels, overlooking the promotional court at the heart of the scheme. Manager Chris McAngus says: “I think it’s a good scheme. The footfall is really high. Considering we are on the top floor, the number of people coming up is amazing.” Some of the retailers say the area around the promotional court and north of it to Western Road feels the busiest. The anchors here include Bhs, WH Smith and Borders. The central mall runs from the promotional court south to Debenhams, the scheme’s other big anchor. Competitive retail market in Brighton @Jakarta trades close to Debenhams on the upper level. Nigel Morgan, one of the @Jakarta Brighton store’s three managers, says the store didn’t meet its initial targets after its 4 December opening, which were partly based on experience at the only other @Jakarta to open so far, a similar-sized store at Lakeside in Thurrock. Morgan says: “Lakeside is doing double the amount of revenue but then there’s a lot of competition elsewhere in Churchill Square and in Western Road. Trade also tails off here in the mid-afternoon. But there are days when we are very busy.” Rents are also considerably lower at Churchill Square than at Lakeside or some of the other new shopping centres that opened last year, such as The Mall at Cribbs Causeway near Bristol or the Trafford Centre. At Churchill Square, H&M are paying the top rent, £170 zone A, trading on to Western Road. The rental tone nearby is £140 to £150 zone A while it is £120 zone A on the upper mall and £80-£90 zone A on the lower mall. Standard Life’s Mike Hannigan, who led the Churchill Square development team and was recently promoted to head the Scottish fund’s entire retail portfolio, hopes rents on the lower level will close the gap and that the prime pitch from Western Road will eventually extend further back through the development. Weekly footfall climbing He praises the good visibility up and down from each level and points out that upper mall retailers including Next, C&J Clark, River Island and Virgin have opted to trade from the duplex level above. “It’s a much bigger scheme than people realise until they start to shop there.” Shoppers seem to like it. Weekly footfall at the shopping centre has climbed steadily from around 170,000 to about 300,000, peaking at 400,000 in December. Tenants seem to like it too. Lynsey Simpson, who runs branded fashion store Envy, says: “I think this centre’s brilliant. I’ve worked around the country and this scheme’s really got atmosphere.”