Report
Leisurely A
pace
s consumer needs evolve, there is an increasing trend towards providing all their lifestyle desires in one place. Creating a destination that incor- porates a mix of retail and leisure is proving key to this.
Coffee shops, fast-food operators, formal restaurants
and even cinemas and bowling alleys are now a normal sight within a scheme. And the Mall of America in Minneapolis in the US has a full-blown theme park and aquarium at its heart. Such features recognise that shopping trips are part of consumers’ leisure activity. Mintel’s Lifestyles report shows how important leisure
has become to overall consumer spending in the UK. Entertainment makes up £23.2bn and food service is £30.4bn of total consumer spending. So what makes a modern mixed-use centre successful in the UK? One example is the O2 Centre on London’s Finchley
Road. As well as a Vue Cinema, there is an Esporta gym and several restaurants and bars, to make the space a destination for both day and night. Being so close to central London and the West End, the leisure focus, tube and rail transport links to north London and car parking facilities make the centre a viable alternative for a night out for the young professionals living nearby in Camden, West Hampstead and Swiss Cottage. Another is Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays, which welcomes 8 million visitors a year. Situated in a historic setting, on the waterfront yet close to the city centre, it has become one of the most vibrant shopping and leisure destinations in the region. It demonstrates how a broad leisure offer can complement retail stores to drive footfall, dwell time, party size and extend the operating hours of a centre.
14 spring 2012
A1 examines the growing importance of a quality food, beverage and entertainment offer to a successful shopping centre
Land Securities portfolio director Deepan Khiroya is responsible for Gunwharf Quays and The Galleria in Hatfield, Hertfordshire among other schemes. He says both were always designed with a strong mix of leisure and retail in mind. Of Gunwharf Quays particularly, he says: “It was always anticipated that the waterfront would be a major attrac- tion and that people would want to eat there. Nearly all the trips we get during the day are from people who come for both [retail and leisure].” The strong food and beverage offer at Gunwharf Quays
– there are 28 restaurants – means it is a draw for visitors throughout the day. Michael Oliver, a senior analyst at Mintel, has predicted
that the beginning of an upturn for the economy will be good for leisure spend. “It is likely that consumers will loosen their leisure purse strings to a certain extent, which may particularly manifest itself as an increase in expendi- ture on secondary items like food and drink in leisure venues during activities such as cinema visiting, bowling and days out.” The market for eating out and takeaways grew 1.6% between 2006 and 2010, and a night out remains among the top five spending activities consumers use to cheer themselves up. It was mentioned by 52% of those that Mintel polled for its research. Annually, the fast-food market is worth £8.6bn, public house catering £6.3bn, restaurant meals £6.4bn and other food service (which includes cafes, coffee shops and other retail food outlets) is £9.2bn. The leisure offer within centres is increasingly broader
too, reflecting how aspects of the leisure market have held up strongly, and even grown, during the squeeze on consumer discretionary spending. Annual consumer spending on health and fitness clubs is £2.6bn, cinemas is £1.1bn, nightclubs is £407m and even tenpin bowling is £184m.
It is about fulfilling the needs of our consumers’ lifestyles as far as possible, whether they are retail or leisure or a mix of both Deepan Khiroya, Land Securities
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