Glasgow

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TOP TOWNS RANKING 2

Key Facts

Total floorspace: 2.7 million sq ft (248,680 sq m)

Missing retailers in central Glasgow: Suits You, Pumpkin Patch, Shoe Express, Muji, Paperchase, Phase Eight, Wilkinson, Adidas

Top five under-sized retailers in central Glasgow: Matalan (-12,600 sq ft), Sports World (-6,507 sq ft), Zara (-5,405 sq ft), Poundland (-3,500 sq ft), Mothercare (-3,062 sq ft)

Top five centres that share the central Glasgow total catchment: Parkhead (8 per cent), Braehead (7 per cent), Clydebank (5 per cent), Glasgow Fort (4 per cent), East Kilbride (4 per cent)

Area of highest rental growth over the past five years: Buchanan Street (4.3 per cent)

Average rental growth over the past five years: 2.2 per cent

New developments: the 750,000 sq ft (69,675 sq m) Silverburn centre in Pollok is due for completion next month. In the city centre, a major extension to Buchanan Galleries is planned, and the St Enoch Centre is being refurbished

Latest deals: H&M, Wallis, Burton, New Look, River Island and Boots are among the latest signings for Silverburn

Footfall index: January 2006, 100; July 2007, 92

Source: Experian/rental data from Churston Heard

Developers are cashing in on Glasgow’s tag as a city of culture and its shortage of retail space with the extension of Buchanan Galleries and a£100 million revamp of the St Enoch Centre.

Work has already begun on Ivanhoe Cambridge’s redevelopment of the St Enoch Centre, which will bring 40 new retail stores to the city and an additional 1 million sq ft (92,900 sq m) of retail and leisure space. The St Enoch development will target mainly mass-market retailers.

Buchanan Galleries has submitted an application to extend the scheme from 600,000 sq ft (55,740 sq m) to 1.3 million sq ft (120,770 sq m), but work is unlikely to begin before next summer and will not be completed until 2011. The centre will be positioned as upmarket and will focus on creating larger units of 5,000 sq ft (465 sq m) to 7,500 sq ft (695 sq m) in an attempt to attract new entrants to the Scottish market.

The St Enoch Centre will not be finished until 2009, so retailers without a presence in the city or those looking for larger units will have to wait if they want to capitalise on Glasgow’s reputation as a fashion city.

There are some new entrants, but their numbers are limited because of a lack of space and small units. Apple is fitting out its first store in the city on Buchanan Street, which will open in the autumn and jeweller Goldsmiths has recently signed a unit. Upmarket beauty retailer Molton Brown is also believed to be close to agreeing a store.

All Saints has signed a unit on Buchanan Street after failing to pull in the crowds at its site in Ingram Street. However, this move goes against the trend and is more to do with All Saints being an unknown brand in Scotland. Benetton, Crombie, Jigsaw and Jaeger, all considered destination fashion brands, have taken sites in nearby Ingram Street in the past two to three years. Mulberry opened its first Glasgow store on the street in July and upmarket lingerie chain Agent Provocateur arrived in the city in August.

Culverwell associate partner Kevin Sims says: “The market is pretty buoyant. There is a bit of uncertainty around Argyle Street and Sauchiehall Street because of recent performance and retailers new to the city generally desire to be in Buchanan Street.”

The opening of the Silverburn out-of-town development in October is likely to have some impact on occupier strategy, according to Sims. “There will be a slight impact on the city centre initially, but Glasgow will always offer shoppers a day-out environment,” he says. “Silverburn will be more about mass-market retailers taking second or third sites and will have a bigger effect on the market in Braehead. It does have some new entrants signed up, though.”