WAREHOUSING THE FUTURE
THE CHANGING FACE OF RETAIL WAREHOUSING
A number of sectors have moved into retail parks in the past few years, changing the profile of the traditional bulky goods environments:
n Non-food Where Next led, many others are following. Retailers such as M&S, Boots and TK Maxx all have major retail park programmes, while an increasingly diverse set of high street retailers have started to consider or are operating from retail parks where A1 consent is available
n Food The big grocers are all present on some parks where open A1 consent has been available. The likely evolution is from large standalone stores to smaller units, integrated with the main park offer
n Food and beverage Replacing the ubiquitous fast food vans, coffee offers such as Costa have been more recently supplemented by operators such as Frankie & Benny’s and Nando’s, plus pub restaurant
chains such as Toby and Harvester
n Leisure Gyms and cinemas are opening on retail parks, although operators need to ensure that the leisure offer complements rather than obstructs the retailing
n Specialist entries Metrobank and the Lloydspharmacy ‘health village’ are just two examples of new retail propositions opening on retail parks and more new entrants and bespoke derivatives of high street offers are expected as retailers get more creative
n Discounters Retailers such as Home Bargains, B&M Bargains and Poundland are all using retail parks as one of their growth channels – yet their presence on parks was negligible just five years ago
choose retail parks for their weekly shops, making accessibility even more important. “They are often used after the school run, with mums coming into have a coffee and then shop. That means
Discounters such as B&M Bargains have increased their presence in retail parks
improving facilities, making schemes nicer environments and more female- friendly. That’s obviously very different from when parks consisted of DIY and big-box furniture stores,” he reflects.
He cites St Oswald’s Retail Park in
Gloucester, where Hammerson has regenerated the 55-acre former cattle market. “We have improved the car parking, the landscaping, added pods – smaller standalone units – a proper bank branch, and food and beverage offers like Subway and Costa. We believe design will become a lot more important. Construction will always be the same but we think parks will become more of a circuit, with the food and beverage integrated into the scheme,” says. Similarly, he says that at Elliotts Field in Rugby, Hammerson’s proposals are really to improve the experience, separating cars and pedes- trians and adding a cafe under a curved, covered terrace. Skelton feels that such opportunities
are predicated on planning, increas- ingly not just on A1 consent – which means any type of non-food store can open on the park – but open A1, allow- ing food retail. “But changing the nature of the park brings other ele- ments with it. If a site is more fashion- oriented and more female-friendly then it probably needs to be better maintained and, with long trading hours, it needs to be safe. Improve- ments to the environment need to be balanced with costs – although of course retail warehousing remains much cheaper than shopping centres,” she points out.
XX Retail Week November 2011
www.retail-week.com
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