Adding new restaurants to schemes, such as Jamie’s Italian to Gunwharf Quays, has widened the choice and brought in new customers


In particular, Mintel estimates the private health


and fitness clubs market has grown 17% between 2006 and 2011, and is even up 2% year on year between 2010 and 2011. Mintel has found the gym to be the leisure activity that consumers have been most reticent to cut spending on. Both Gunwharf Quays and The O2 Centre have fitness


centres, which again drive regular footfall. In addition, the Portsmouth scheme houses a casino, which is in the process of being upgraded, a hotel and nightclub. All of these add to its appeal as an evening destination, and are complementary to each other too. Khiroya says it is important not only to find the right


balance between retail and leisure, but to also make sure that each brand in the scheme is complementary and adding to the visitor numbers and revenue delivered. For turnover-based schemes everyone has a vested interest in not diluting visitor spend. For instance, adding a Jamie’s Italian restaurant


to Gunwharf Quays has not diminished the trade of the other restaurants. “It’s increased the size of the cake, attracting people to the scheme who weren’t coming before,” explains Khiroya. He adds that bringing new dining concepts to a centre with a wide choice of restaurants is as crucial to making the offer enticing for customers – and extending dwell times – as getting the best retail brands. This has meant Gunwharf Quays has branches of restaurants such as Wagamama, Loch Fyne and Brasserie Blanc as well as more ubiquitious food service brands including Subway and Costa. Khiroya says there is a waiting list of brands wanting space at the centre, and so Land Securities is able to pick and choose to make sure that it gets those that are the best at what they do for each leisure and retail segment. Khiroya concludes that increasingly the leisure aspect of


a great shopping centre is as crucial as the retail mix to its ultimate success. l


spring 2012 15


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