Placemaking strategy enables King Street to hit record footfall numbers
Popular Manchester shopping and leisure district, King Street, has achieved record footfall numbers due to its placemaking strategy.
Landlord, DTZ Investors, became majority shareholder across the street in 2016 and has since worked to reposition King Street as the leading leisure destination within the city.
Footfall on King Street has continued to increase year on year and has seen impressive growth around key annuals holidays.
Visitors to the street increased by 50% this year compared with May Bank Holiday in 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, and a 28% increase on the May Bank Holiday last year.
The placemaking strategy has focused on utilising the vacant units for pop-up shops or activations with sustainable brands such as Know The Origin, The Pop-Up Club, Community Clothing and Forever Manchester taking temporary space on the street.
As part of the wider strategy, King Street is also recognising and supporting key events or initiatives across the city including The Manchester Flower Show which launched across the city in celebration of the Jubilee weekend.
This saw six floral activations across the street including a pop-up pizza bar at newly-launched Franco Manca, King Street’s iconic ‘Floral (Mon) Arch’ display and a pop-up bar from Kuoni. The event saw 70,000 people visit the city across the weekend.
This summer will also see the launch of ‘Al Fresco’ Dining which has given several outdoor seating options to King Street’s hospitality venues including Franco Manca, El Gato Negro and TAST.
Live music will also be launched on the street which will see a selection of local bands and artists perform over a period of eight weeks.
Fundraising for Manchester Pride will also continue for the third year. The last two years have seen a total of £1,500 raised. The team has aspirations to double this for 2022.
Tom Royston, from DTZ Investors, said: “When we took over King Street it was our vision to make the iconic retail and leisure district a destination within Manchester. We implemented a new lettings strategy as well as a placemaking campaign which highlighted our vision for the brand.
“We look forward to announcing our summer schedule at King Street.”
Over the past year DTZ Investors has completed three deals across 7,918 sq ft welcoming some renowned brands to the street including Cinnabon, Pretty Green’s flagship store, George Thornton Art, King Street Grooming, Yorkshire Building Society, Smile Direct Club, Franco Manca and CrepsLocker. White Stuff & The White Company have also renewed their leases.
LTL and Orme are joint leasing agents on King Street.
