New fascias look towards the UK fashion market

Have they not read the news? Despite the unprecedented retail downturn, this autumn the UK - and London in particular - will welcome a slew of retailers aiming to crack the British high street. A weak pound and aggressive retailers, perhaps sensing blood amid many of the ailing current players, mean new domestic start-ups and international players will soon be rubbing shoulders.

Fashion guru George Davies opened his first GIVe stores at Bluewater and on Regent Street on October 1, with Liverpool One and Meadowhall following for the 30-plus womenswear fashion offer. Davies is also in discussions with various department store groups and will have his collection available in a number of independents.

New retailer Mint Velvet will also debut as concessions within 13 House of Fraser stores, while agent King Sturge seeks out the first sites for a planned 30 stores in market towns and upscale London locations over the next two to three years. Created by ex-Rubicon and Principles directors it is intended to “fill the gap left in the 30-plus womenswear market” says King Sturge retail team partner Tom Keys-Toyer.

“We are looking ideally for 1,200 sq ft ground floor trading and want the first stores open for Christmas trading,” he says.

“From their perspective this is a good time to be looking for sites. To me this is an example where landlords need to get more creative - the offer is backed by a very experienced retail team and is bringing something new to the high street. They have to stop thinking only about covenants.”

US retailers are set to arrive in some force. Urban Outfitters offshoot Anthropologie will debut on Regent Street at the former Wedgwood store and will follow with a King’s Road store next year. With a similar feel to Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie began life in Chicago and mixes fashion with homewares and furniture in one of the original lifestyle offers. At the forefront of retail innovation, its latest concept is a lifestyle hang-out space in Los Angeles called Space 15 Twenty.

Fashion brand Forever21 has been sniffing out sites on Oxford Street for some time as a platform for European entry. “We are looking for central London sites of 25,000 sq ft to 45,000 sq ft and we are close to signing something - it’s opportunity-driven,” says Harper Dennis Hobbs partner James Ebel. Enjoying rapid domestic growth, in the US it has started targeting empty department-store anchors in malls with a bigger footplate concept.

Encouraged by the successes of Abercrombie & Fitch, American Apparel and Banana Republic, more US brands are likely to follow. Ebel adds that Juicy Couture, which has established a London flagship on Brutton Street, will be looking for more stores next year but stresses that a “firm strategy is currently being put in place”.

“We are seeing considerable interest in the mature markets,” adds Peter Gold, head of cross-border retail, EMEA, for CB Richard Ellis. “The UK, France, Germany and Italy are all of interest to international retailers.”

Spanish retailers remain on the ascent. Desigual made a cautious debut on Regent Street and is also at Westfield London - where it remains ambivalent about performance - but its extraordinary fast-track expansion globally is mirrored by ambitions to open beyond London in the UK. Cult footwear retailer Camper, newly on Regent Street, and Blanco at Westfield London also continue to look for space.

With the weak pound, a number of mainland European retailers are lining up UK stores for the first time, including Dutch fashion group The Sting, which will open a London flagship on Piccadilly Circus at the former ill-fated Tower Records/Virgin/Zavvi space.

Meanwhile French fashion brand APC has joined established designer stores Dover Street Market and John Rocha by opening on Dover Street and Danish jewellery brand Pandora says that it aims to open 75 franchised standalone shops in the UK by the end of the year. The brand, which began in the UK as a wholesaler, says it could open up to 100 shops in the country and will add to its ten stores when it opens on Oxford Street in November.

The jeweller is also expanding its concessions operation. It is exiting Ernest Jones to fellow Signet-owned retailer Leslie Davis. Pandora already operates in London’s Selfridges and will move into the department store retailer’s Birmingham and Manchester shops.

Ebel reflects: “The market is nowhere near as quiet, especially in London, as people are making out.”