Appy Feet fishes for space at Arndale

RETAIL property specialist Tushingham Moore has completed six new lettings across the North West, including two lettings at Manchester’s Arndale Centre.

The agency acted for the Arndale’s owners, Prupim/Capital Shopping Centres, on a three-year lease at 31 Halle Square to Appy Feet – a store that offers foot spas using tiny Garra Rufa fish to nibble dead skin from customers’ feet. It is paying £126,000 a year for the space. It has also signed a ten-year lease for 171 Halle Mall which has been taken by Sugarcane at a rental of £100,000 a year. The unit has 1,583 sq ft of space at the upper mall level and 1,374 sq ft of ancillary space.

The other deals completed by Tushingham Moore include the letting of the 2,080 sq ft Unit 10 at The Arcade shopping centre in Ashton-under-Lyne on behalf of landlord AIB, a 760 sq ft unit for jewellery retailer Pandora at The Potteries in Hanley on a 10-year lease for CSC, a 3,00 sq ft unit on a ten-year lease at 31/31a Bridge St in Chester to Patisserie Valerie for landlord Carlyle Group and a ten-year lease on the 856 sq ft shop at 9 St Michaels Row in Chester for Carlyle Group to Mimco.

The Arndale Centre recently reported a record Christmas trading period with visitor numbers reaching 5m in the last five weeks of the year and more than 1m per week in the three weeks prior to Christmas.

The centre’s general manager, Glen Barkworth, said: “While other towns and shopping centres were affected by the snow, we had no such issues as people living and working in the city centre chose to shop at Manchester Arndale rather than risk making the drive to other centres further afield.

“We were hoping to beat previous year’s figures this Christmas; however we never imagined that we’d hit the 5m mark, especially considering current economic conditions,” he added.

Tushingham Moore acts as joint agent for the Arndale alongside Lunson Mitchenall and CBRE.