Bullring defies retail gloom to celebrate bumper Christmas trading
BIRMINGHAM’S Bullring Shopping Centre has defied the retail gloom to celebrate one of the most successful Christmas trading periods in its history.
The shopping centre attracted more than 5m people through its doors during December – more than 1.3m in the final week alone. The Boxing Day sales attracted 240,000 making it the centre’s busiest Boxing Day in its eight year history.
More than 2,500 people queued along St Martin’s Walk from as early as 2am as they awaited the Next sale, while an additional 1,000 queued from 5am for the opening of the Selfridges sale at 8am.
Tim Walley, Bullring general manager, said: “The final quarter of 2011 saw the opening of the centre’s new dining destination, Spiceal Street, and welcomed new retailers such as Vans and True Religion, both new to the region.
“We’ve seen in excess of 39m customers visit Bullring during 2011. With the Olympics, the Queen’s Jubilee and a range of new retailers joining the centre this year, we’re looking forward to a successful 2012.”
The pulling power of the city’s German Market is thought to have been a major factor in the strong numbers. The market, which closed on December, attracted more than 3m visitors to Birmingham and a high percentage are thought to have gone to the Bullring during their visit.
Another retailer enjoying a healthy Christmas is John Lewis. The department store group, which has major outlets in Solihull and Tamworth, saw a 9.3% rise in sales in the five weeks to December 31, 2011 compared with the same period in 2010. Total sales were £596m – up 19.1% on the figures two years ago.
Electricals and home technology sales performed strongly, up 4%, while fashion, including beauty, rose 10.3%; with home increasing by 13.6%.
Online sales for the five-week period rose 27.9% on 2010. Online sales have now exceeded £600m for the year to date.
The fourth week of the period (Sunday 18 December to Saturday 24 December inclusive) saw sales of £124.7m, up 32.7 per cent on 2010 sales for the equivalent week – a very strong performance even with an extra day’s trade that week.
The fifth week of the period (Sunday 25 December to Saturday 31 December inclusive) saw sales of £101.3m, which, although down 4.8 per cent year on year, were against sales for the week before the VAT increase on 1 January 2011.
Andy Street, managing director of John Lewis and chairman of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “Sales during the four weeks to Christmas Eve were outstanding. During that period we broke the record for our biggest week ever with a sterling total of £133.1m for the week ending December 17. The first week of clearance saw a very strong start, but against the pre-VAT increase week in 2010, it was always going to be a challenge to match sales, particularly with ‘big ticket’ items.”
The John Lewis Partnership, which includes Waitrose, will be aiming to build on these figures with further store openings planned for this year.
The partnership is also developing the anchor store for the revamped New Street Station, which is set to open in 2015.
