Want to attract retailers to your mixed-use project? You need to know how they think. Find out here …

Fashions and food tastes change with the seasons; regeneration projects can take decades to happen. Retailers want the prime location for maximum sales; regeneration is all about bringing together the right mix of uses to generate broader economic and social well-being. For all these reasons, the relationship between the fast-moving retail sector and regeneration can be slightly uneasy.

The days are long gone when retail was injected into the town centre by developing a standalone monolithic mall and paying a big-name anchor tenant to bring in other stores and the shoppers. Now relatively few malls are being developed and retail is being reintegrated into the urban fabric with new high streets, complete with shopping parades topped with apartments. This complex mix demands a greater understanding between public sector regeneration players and retailers.

David Burns, director of the northern strategic business unit at construction and management consultancy Currie and Brown, gives some insight into the workings of the retail mind:

Different regeneration projects will get a different reception from retailers

    In a major project where you are creating a new residential environment, it is relatively easy to speak to the market, because you are creating a footfall. In a village-type environment, it is more difficult.

    Burns adds: "You can say, this is where you want the centre, and locate the public buildings there to try to create the market, but it is still a leap of faith for a retailer.

    But as large-scale regeneration projects are often led by significant quantities of residential, they create a market and so can be attractive to retailers."

    Don't think that your retail problems are solved if a big-name retailer signs up to take space in your scheme early on

      "Retailers may say yes to taking space, but bear in mind that they are adept at changing agreements," says Burns. "Not so long ago, every town-centre development was going to have an Imax cinema, but very few of them were built. Similarly, many shopping centres have spaces that were originally designed for ice rinks - but the ice rink never materialised, and the open space provides the ideal space for a market."

      Stay in touch with the market and think about how to make your retail environment better than the one next door

        Women's fashion retailer Primark has a massive expansion programme in progress. Burns says: "If you were building a store tomorrow you'd talk to them. A year ago, you may not have done that."

        The retailer wants it now

          "When a project takes time, what tends to happen is the interior design of the store changes. The longer a store takes to develop, the more the retailer will change their designs and the more a store will cost," explains Burns.

          Retailers want to open their store first

            That won't necessarily be possible on a mixed-use site. A lot of factors come into play when deciding what to develop first - it tends to be what can produce the return quickest, but there are other factors, such as how strong a particular market is at that time, says Burns.

            Shopping for more information

            At the start of the year, the British Council for Shopping Centres commissioned its most extensive research project: an 18-month independent examination of retail property trends. The programme, called The Future of Retail Property, aims to give retailers, developers, investors and public policy-makers a road map of trends for the next decade. It covers every aspect of retail development, from location and planning to tenant
            mix and leasing.

            The programme is broken down into eight projects and the results of the individual projects will be published over the next 18 months. The first findings on the future of online retailing will be published in June and a full report of the conclusions of all eight research projects will be published next year.

            The projects and their researchers are:

            • Online retailing
              Cushman & Wakefield is looking at the impact of web retailing on the retail property sector
            • In town or out of town
              Michael Bach, former principal planner at the ODPM, and geographic information consultant Geofutures are looking at how planning policy could change over the next decade
            • Future modes of transport
              Planning consultant DHC is looking at future trends and costs of travel
            • Changing demographics and consumer patterns
              Retail analyst Verdict and the University of Surrey are looking at demographics, consumer behaviour and future spending patterns. The University of Surrey will be concentrating on the grey consumer
            • Retail business models
              The Oxford Institute of Retail Management is investigating how retail businesses and store formats will change
            • The future of brands
              Ralph Ardill, founder and chief executive of The Brand Experience Consultancy, is looking at the impact of brands on retailing, and the potential for retail centres to become brands in their own right
            • What type of future shopping places
              Architect BDP is looking at the trends in architecture, urban design, Building Regulations and construction that will determine the form of retail places.

            For more information about the research, see www.bcsc.org.uk

            Source

            RegenerateLive

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