Peak condition
Published: 01 February, 2007
While corporate social responsibilty is a relatively new subject to be pushed forward by the BCSC, it is a key issue that has been on the lips of staff at Crystal Peaks for years.
The district shopping centre, which can be found seven miles from Sheffield city centre, is positioned at the heart of the local community, and staff are constantly getting involved in community schemes and charity events. New shop launches, celebrity guests and sporting events also fill the centre's social calendar.
Centre manager Chris Jones says: "At one time I described Crystal Peaks as the biggest corner shop in Sheffield because it was regarded as part of the community and still is."
In fact the centre has built such a strong relationship with its local catchment that Jones even knows local people personally and shoppers are always approaching him with their own views.
The centre even invests time and money ensuring the local community is kept safe outside its own boundary. It provided lighting, CCTV, security and a new lick of paint to the council-owned underpass. "We realised our customers used that underpass and the council was happy for us to keep an eye on it," says Jones. "And now there is no grafitti there. It's really about keeping tabs on what's important to the people we work with.
"Its a 36-acre site so the centre covers a large footprint. I've always had contractors and landscapers on site, which is unusual for a shopping centre, but we have 24-hour security here. We don't have fences but we know people around here anyway, because the people who work here also live near here. We know each other and everyone is on first name terms."
The centre was built in 1988 following huge demand from the local catchment area for such a development, and Jones joined the team in 1991 when it was half the size it is now. The covered shopping centre has recently been extended by 235,000 sq ft taking it to 600,000 sq ft in total. In addition there is the retail park, which was built in 2004, and houses retailers such as Boots, Argos and TK Maxx.
Jones explains: "It's grown with the community. More jobs were created, more housing was built and more business came into the area. The centre was called Crystal Peaks and now the area is called Crystal Peaks."
The recent expansion has seen new retailers join the scheme including Next, which has taken 20,000 sq ft over two floors. The retailer is trading nearly 30 per cent ahead of any anticipated target. Altogether there are 23 new units and other new retailers include Clarks, Brighthouse, Card Factory and Carphone Warehouse. Dr & Herbs and Poundworld are the most recent retail announcements. The new 89,000 sq ft Sainsbury's store, which is 32 per cent ahead of its predicted target, also opened in February last year, which allowed Hermes to extend the East Mall and break up the old Sainsbury's unit into various retail units, one of which is home to Next. As part of development, Hermes refurbished the malls, putting in new floor and ceiling tiles, new lifts in the main atrium and new decoration.
However, despite its size and presence, Crystal Peaks is not a scheme that is on everyone's radar.
The owner, Hermes Real Estate, admits that it is difficult getting retailers to understand how successful the centre is, but stresses that once they've seen the scheme for themselves they're always very impressed.
Currently there are five voids in the centre, but Hermes' Richard Low hopes to have these units let by the middle of this year.
"We want to improve the fashion range within the centre but we would also like to try and attract a bookshop and a music retailer," says Low, who says the larger units that so many retailers demand these days are now readily available within the scheme. "Because of its location and the fact it's a district centre," he adds, "it's something we have to work very hard on, but once we get people here they think it's fantastic."
Despite Meadowhall being only 15 minutes away, people come and visit Crystal Peaks for the social element it provides as well as the shopping. As such Meadowhall is not seen as competition. Shoppers will on average visit the scheme three or four times a week, heading to Meadowhall once a month for a big shop. Low also points out that while Tuesday and Wednesday are traditionally slow days for retailers, at Crystal Peaks they remain very busy.
Looking ahead, the builders are expected to be off site by March but Hermes is already looking at future expansion. It is currently waiting to hear if it has been successful in purchasing adjacent land from the council, where it would build an improved bus and tram interchange, while freeing up the space occupied by the current bus station for possible further retail expansion.
Low adds: "We now want to take stock of what we have done and consolidate."
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=== vital statistics ===
crystal peaks
Owner: Hermes
Managing agent: Cushman & Wakefield
Letting agents: Douglas Stevens
GLA: 600,000 sq ft
Footfall: 10.8 million in 2006 (up 11.3 per cent on 2005 )
Dwelltime: Two and a half hours
Catchment: 330,000
Acnhor stores: Market Place, Next, Sainsbury's, Wilkinsons
Parking spaces: 2,000 free
