15 months of sales growth provides launchpad for £50m investment

THE Meadowhall Shopping Centre has had a stellar year after announcing £50m investment, with the strongest performance in five years.

Sales are up 5.7% so far on last year, and the centre is outperforming national sales figures from the British Retail Consortium, which showed total UK growth of 1.8% for June.

In June the Sheffield shopping hub saw a significant 10% increase in sales on the same month last year, marking the 15th consecutive month of growth for the Centre.

This follows the announcement of a £50m investment by British Land into the shopping hub, which has turned 25 this year, to enable it to compete with Leeds and Sheffield centres.

Centre director Darren Pearce said: “We’ve seen a gradual improvement over time in the retail sector, and this is shown in Meadowhall’s sales increase this year, which are markedly up relative to national figures.

“That’s a consequence of things we’ve done over the years, focusing on the premium section of the centre for example.

“The £50m investment from British Land will push us into the future, but we also respond to customers and converse with retailers to expand the breadth of our offering.”

These plans are already on their way, with restaurants throughout the Centre seeing a 14% sales increase in June. This was helped by the opening of the new supersize Nandos and recently refurbished Wagamama alongside the existing eateries at the centre.

Mixed fashion stores across the Centre have seen a 7% uplift year on year in sales with womenswear up 9% and menswear up 10%.

Fashion brands Jack & Jones and Jigsaw have both recently taken prominent positions within the Centre, along with the White Company, White Stuff and jewellery retailers Cadenzza.

The new names join a line-up of high end brands that already make up Meadowhall including Kurt Geiger, LK Bennett, House of Fraser and Michael Kors.

Mr Pearce said: “In the last seven years, Meadowhall has become driven from a retailer perspective. The operator and the retailers have become more intertwined, and austerity even helped bring retailers and centres together.

“We were drawn more actively together in more difficult times to promote sales, that relationship and sense of partnership has developed.”

The retailer has faced threats from other shopping centres. The proposed £50m investment is intended to combat this potential risk from sites like Trinity Leeds, and new developments such as Victoria Gate with anchor tenant John Lewis, and Sheffield’s new Retail Quarter.

Mr Pearce said: “We’re conscious of the evolving offer in the broader region, but our strengths – our breadth of offer and our infrastructure, as well as continually evolving offer is appealing to the consumer,

“The centre’s retail offering has to evolve as well.” And evolve it has, with a recent £3m investment in the Park Lane area of the centre, which was credited with attracting retailers including The White Company and Jigsaw.

“Where we want to go in future is towards integrated leisure, and creating a fuller experience. Restaurants are still booming, and increasing our catering and leisure offering makes us more of a destination, so people will come from further afield.

“We have one of the most integrated transport interchanges in the country, even more if the planned HS2 station gets placed here.

“Even in the city centre, a hyperlink would connect them and HS2 is a really inspirational infra project to get us up and down the country more efficiently and fuel infrastructure around those connection points. Anything that connects the North more effectively is important for the regional economy.”