SECTOR FOCUS: RETAIL


One Cranmore Drive: new home for Clarks Shoes in Solihull


Centre’s star role on TV I


Bullring general manager, TIM WALLEY, talks about the centre’s new brand campaign, a flurry of new shop openings and looks ahead to the Christmas period.


t’s been a busy start to Q3 at the centre as we launched our new brand campaign, We Are So City. The campaign embraces the buzz and excitement of city life with a 3D interpretive model of Birmingham created by Aardman, the multi-award winning animation studio behind Wallace and Gromit. As a centre we’re in a unique position; we’re located in the heart of the second city and we’ve played a major role in shaping Birmingham. We’re proud of this and felt it was time to celebrate the buzz of city life. The new campaign signals a


RETAIL THERAPY


BY TIM WALLEY GENERAL MANAGER, BULLRING


return to TV advertising for the centre with the adverts appearing on ITV1 and Channel 4. The campaign also comprises outdoor advertising at many of the city’s gateways as well as online and taxi advertising. There are further extensions of the new campaign


‘The new campaign signals a return to TV advertising for the centre’


online (www.bullring.co.uk/socity) including a Facebook app and the City Skydive, a game that allows users to upload their image to virtually parachute into the We Are So City model. In September we celebrated our ninth birthday and


as we look towards our 10th year in the city we’re thrilled to be welcoming new retailers to the tenant mix. During the summer Goldsmiths unveiled the first of their new concept stores in the Midlands, Boutique.


Goldsmiths, which is targeted at a younger audience offering fashion accessory brands such as Wildfox and Guess. The Goldsmiths store is currently undergoing a new shopfit and is due to reopen during October bringing with it a range of new product ranges and high end brands. Iconic catalogue brand, Boden,


recently selected Bullring as its new location for a womenswear pop-up shop as part of its on-going pop-up shop strategy. The brand has taken a 3,885sq ft unit on the Upper West Mall and will remain open in the lead up to Christmas. Other new tenants include Italian


coffee shop, Café Illy, and soon-to- open UGG Australia. The popular footwear brand is due to open its first standalone shop in the city this month and will take a 3,320sq ft


unit on the Upper West Mall. We are currently in negotiations with a number of


potential tenants who we believe are the perfect fit for Bullring and our customers. As always our main objective is to ensure that the retailers we introduce to the retail mix are right for the centre and offer something unique for our customers. The new additions to our tenant mix mean that the


centre heads into Christmas with a near 100 per cent occupancy rate putting us in good stead for a successful Christmas and New Year period.


New Solihull


office for Clarks One of the most famous names in shoes is hot-footing it to a new base in Solihull, thanks to global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. Cushman & Wakefield has let 4,200 sq ft of space at One Cranmore Drive to Clarks, the Somerset-based shoe maker. Clarks will use the space as a part-administration/part- merchandising unit. It will be home to 10 staff. The company has not had to


waste much shoe leather on the move – it is moving from a building nearby.


One of the key reasons for the


move was to acquire newer space for a good deal less rent, according to Marcus Hayes, senior surveyor, Cushman & Wakefield. “The company has moved from a building where it was paying £14 per sq ft to a newer building where it is paying £5 per sq ft. It is generally a better building for a third of the rent,” he said. The theme of reducing


occupancy costs was also top of the agenda in another Solihull deal concluded by Cushman & Wakefield, namely to re-negotiate a contract for marketing data firm Experian Footfall at their base at Yorke House, in Arleston Way. Experian has agreed to remain


in its 8,000 sq ft unit at Yorke House for a reduced – but undisclosed – rent.


Retailers set sights on German market


Two thirds of British retailers (66 per cent) expect their overseas sales to increase during the next five years with Germany the market most likely to provide growth, according to research from Barclays. Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of retailers said


Germany was their number one choice for overseas expansion in the next five years, closely followed by China and Australia. The results support recent announcements by Arcadia, which owns among others BHS, Wallis, TopShop and Miss Selfridge, and Next which are stepping up their expansion plans, with the former reportedly opening its first outlets in Germany in partnership with Karstadt. Richard Lowe, Barclays head of retail & wholesale, said: “British retailers


‘It has a similar climate to the UK so there is no need to spend time and money adapting lines’


haven’t ventured in to Germany for a very long time and it is only in the last few years, as the economy has strengthened, that it has come to the fore again. “The beauty of Germany, for clothing and footwear


retailers in particular, is that it has a similar climate to the UK so there is no need to spend time and money adapting lines”. More than two thirds (68 per cent) of British retailers


currently generate at least some of their sales from outside the UK, however, the percentage of sales made abroad remains relatively small, with nearly 80 per cent of retailers generating less than a quarter of their turnover overseas. But, as trading conditions in the UK continue to be tough, the number of retailers looking overseas for growth is on the rise.


OCTOBER 2012 CHAMBERLINK 47


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