Who are these new shopping centres being built for?

22 Comments

I was struck this week by the juxtaposition between two stories in a Retail Week email update.

One reported on how multiple retailers were closing stores and another announced a new retail centre in Leeds to be built as part of regeneration scheme.

I had to wonder who would fill the space in all these new malls that developers are still so keen to build. With many big players scaling back or imploding, and independents unable to commit to the heyday rents most landlords still demand, who are these shake-and-bake solutions to city decrepitude being built for?

The last dose of ‘regeneration’ I experienced was in Bristol, where the established retail zone was efficiently sidelined by a shiny new mall, parachuted into the other end of the high street.

A convenient quick fix for the local council, it glammed up the grotty end of town, but left an existing independent retail community out in the cold. Rather than solving the problem, it simply moved it. Not particularly regenerative for the stores that had stuck it out through thick and mostly thin for many years.

I imagine the plan in Leeds will be the usual one of attracting big name clone stores to take new space. But by the time the last marble tile is laid and the final polish given to the obligatory acreage of steel and glass, how many will still be in the market for yet more space? And will the city really gain from the further proliferation of coffee bars and mobile phone stores?

Retail rejuvenation is close to my heart, but I’ve yet to see it truly achieved through the default option of handing a chunk of real estate over to institutional developers.

I suppose working with existing retailers and property owners towards improving the existing infrastructure doesn’t have the same headline grabbing potential though.

The consumer landscape may well be radically different by the time the opening day ribbon is cut in Leeds. So if regeneration really is the motivation, perhaps its time town planners started thinking outside the big box, rather than simply ticking it.