9 ANALYSIS Newbury renewed


Over 30,000 people turned out for the opening of Parkway shopping centre, the retail element of Standard Life Investments’ 475,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme in Newbury, on Thursday 27 October.


The people of West Berkshire turned


out in their thousands despite wet weather to watch the opening day parade lead by an effigy of the town’s 16th century cloth maker Jack of Newbury, followed by an entourage of Tudor musicians, jesters, stilt-walkers and children from a local primary school. Entertainment followed throughout the


day with mime artists, street magicians, living statues, and performances from dance troupes and choirs. Comprising 295,000 sq ft of shops and


restaurants, a 550-space car park and 147 apartments, Parkway opened with 17 of 40 units trading, another, Mint Velvet, opened a few days afterwards and negotiations are underway on a further 14. The scheme’s open streetscape design


is an extension to Newbury’s high street - adding to the town’s high quality shopping offer by providing a key mix of boutiques alongside high-street retailers. The scheme includes anchor tenants Debenhams - three times larger than the retailer’s existing store in Newbury - and M&S, as well as a number of new retailers to the town including Superdry, Topshop, H&M, Argento, Jigsaw and Lakeland. John Lewis at home is to open a 40,000-


sq ft store in spring 2012. Ed Jenkins, head of UK retail at Standard


Life Investments, said: “With its strong, affluent catchment, Newbury offered us a great investment opportunity. Parkway opens with a retailer line-up that complements and enhances the town and will see Newbury become a major new shopping destination.” David Paine, head of real estate at


Standard Life Investments, described Parkway as the retail heart of Newbury. Speaking at the launch, he said:


“Last night was very exciting, as with all the shopping centre schemes I’ve been involved with it was down to the wire to get everything ready for opening but I’m delighted with the way everything looks this morning.


The last shopping centre opening for almost 18 months took place when Standard Life opened its Parkway development in Newbury


“The people of Newbury have turned out despite the weather - it’s been a great day.” According to Paine, a key focus was to


make sure Parkway connected with the old and existing aspects of Newbury in design and tenant mix as well as marketing – reflected in the historic and community aspects of the opening parade. Retailers joined in with the celebrations,


by offering a range of offers and giveaways. At H&M the first 100 customers received gift cards ranging in value from £5 - £50, and jewellery store Argento offered 10 per cent off a range of accessories. Parkway also embraced social media


with a Facebook ‘Check in & Win’ campaign. Shoppers using Facebook Places to check in and say ‘Hello Parkway’ were in with the chance to win top prizes. For Paine, Parkway will give Newbury’s


existing retailers a boost. “It’s telling that the independents in the


surrounding area are excited about Parkway,” he explained. “It wasn’t just Parkway that was


busy. The whole of Newbury was packed. There is no doubt that the whole town is benefitting from the opening of Parkway, with people from within the Newbury catchment who have previously travelled elsewhere, staying in the town to shop. “Our aim now is to get people to look at


the stores and the development and to get them coming back. Things are going very well so far.” With Parkway open, there will be no more


new shopping centres opening in the UK until 2013. This marks a seismic shift following the 2008/2009 shopping centre boom years when over 20 centres opened in just 18 months. The 300,000-sq ft shopping centre at the core of the Parkway development is the last of only three to open this year and it will be Spring 2013 when the next – Land Securities’ million-sq ft Trinity Leeds – opens.


Find out more: For more information, please contact the author mia.hunt@jldmedia.com


www.shopping-centre.co.uk November 2011 SHOPPING CENTRE


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