Sector Focus


Shopping centre welcomes tenants


A major out-of-town shopping park on the outskirts of Coventry has enjoyed a flurry of deals, bringing in seven new tenants during the past year. The shopping centre is


Warwickshire Shopping Park, which is on the A46 to the east of Coventry, near the city’s airport. The Aviva Investors-owned shopping centre was opened in 2013, with anchor tenants including M&S Food Hall, Boots, Asda Living, Arcadia, and H&M. Under leasing agents, Cushman


& Wakefield, Savills and Rob Alston Retail, a renewed marketing campaign has paid off with a further 25,000 sq ft of space being let in the last 12 months and five new tenants this year alone. New occupiers include DW


Sports, Pure Gym, Card Factory, The Eye Clinics, HSL, Cancer Research and Barnardo’s. Ed Purcell of Cushman &


Wakefield said: “We have injected new life into the scheme with these recent lettings. The shopping park is continuing to see a decrease in the amount of void space.” Two more units are now under


offer, leaving just four more units to let.


Retail A celebration of success


After recently celebrating its 15th anniversary, Andy Cole, General Manager at Touchwood Shopping Centre, Solihull, discusses the secret to its success as a regional retail destination of choice and reaffirms its plans for the future… It’s hard to believe that


Although we have enjoyed 15


years of strong trading, we cannot sit back and relax if we are to continue to help retail within the borough thrive. If we are to secure ongoing spend inside Solihull and bring additional economic benefits to the


Touchwood has been welcoming guests for over 15 years. Throughout this time we have worked hard to establish an outstanding retail and leisure offering for the residents of Solihull and visitors to the region alike.


Retail Therapy


By Andy Cole General Manager, Touchwood, Solihull


‘We cannot sit back and relax if we are to continue to help retail within the borough thrive’


Delivering a complete guest experience has sat at the heart of our success. We remain committed to evolving our retail mix to meet the needs of guests, regularly enhancing our shopping experience with a programme of free events, and always offering a warm, welcoming and safe environment. This vision has stood us in good stead and will continue to form the backbone of our approach as we look to tackle the challenges that the next decade presents.


community, we must ensure that we continue to offer the ‘added value’ that consumers now desire. In the short-term, we are


developing our offering by welcoming new brands to the centre. Tesla, Pandora, Tiger and O bag are just a few of the quality


retailers which have joined us this year. We have recently commissioned an in-depth


research project to help us to further understand the needs of our guests and we are also currently working on plans for an exciting expansion of the centre. In addition to increasing our fashion portfolio, the expansion will also see a host of new restaurant and leisure brands opening in Solihull for the first time. We are thrilled to be celebrating this landmark


occasion and would like to thank all of our guests, staff, retailers, contractors and suppliers who have helped to make Touchwood the success that it is.


For further information, visit www.touchwoodsolihull.co.uk or telephone 0121 709 6900.


The Apprentice visits Touchwood centre


Touchwood Shopping Centre in Solihull introduced 29 pupils from a local secondary school to the world of retail recently with apprentice-style challenge. Over the course of five days, the


sixth form students from Arden Academy in Knowle were not only given a unique glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes of the busy shopping and leisure destination, but were also given an opportunity to bring to life an all- important celebratory event. The 29 pupils were tasked to


design and plan their very own Touchwood event, to tie in with the centre’s upcoming milestone 15th anniversary (see above column). To assist them with their event


planning and to give them a greater understanding of retail, the students shadowed a variety of Touchwood team members from different areas of the business, from retail management and operations, to guest safety and marketing. The groups presented their 15th


anniversary ideas and plans to a judging panel made up of Touchwood and Arden School representatives, as well as


58 CHAMBERLINK October 2016


The students got behind the scenes


Samantha Sen from the British Council of Shopping Centres. Two groups were chosen as the


overall winners team Synergy’s Alex Hunt, Becky Davies, Joe Shirley and Anish Naik and team Boogie’s Jack Macey, Martha Maurice-Smith, Matt Taylor, Virginia Kinahan and Zebedee Trett. The lucky winners will see their event brought to life by the Touchwood team. Samantha Sen said: “Touchwood


has done a fantastic job offering students useful insight into the world of retail, opening their eyes to the opportunities that exist both on and off the shop floor. ”


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