Northern light
Published: 17 July, 2008
Ten years ago, when the Trafford centre opened on a derelict industrial site wedged between the M60 and the Manchester Ship Canal, industry reaction focused on the Vegas-style architecture - all classical statues and preserved palm trees - and was in danger of ignoring the fact that John Whittaker's Peel Holdings had in fact created a phenomenal retail machine.
But one man was more aware than most of the Trafford Centre's pulling power - Gordon McKinnon was, at the time, Manchester's city centre manager and he knew all too well that Trafford had both critical mass and accessibility on its side at a time when the city centre was still reeling from the 1995 bomb attack.
A couple of years later, McKinnon took the short trip north-west from the city centre and became director at The Trafford Centre. Since then, his mission has been to keep the centre one step ahead of the competition. And there's been plenty of that: the past two years have seen the city centre stage a comeback with the Arndale Centre extension, while new centres have opened in Wigan and Warrington, both firmly within the Trafford Centre catchment.
And now Liverpool One has arrived. Liverpool's fashion-conscious and free-spending shoppers, starved of retail on their doorstep, have grown used to making the trip along the M62 to Trafford. It's too early to tell how many will continue now that they have 2 million sq ft of new retail and leisure in their city centre.
But for the time being, Peel's efforts have been paying off, with footfall up a massive 10.4 per cent year-on-year during the first quarter of 2008. McKinnon puts this down to a £126m programme of improvements, which began three years ago with the creation of a 200,000-sq ft John Lewis store where the centre's Festival Village once stood. Attracting every developer's anchor of choice was a coup, and according to McKinnon it changed perceptions of the centre. "It gave us access to a different customer base - older and even more ABC1."
The arrival of John Lewis has transformed the northern end of the centre, which has attracted a coterie of aspirational brands like Armani Exchange, Vivienne Westwood, DKNY, Calvin Klein, Karen Millen and Hugo Boss. "There's been a very definite move for that sort of retailer to come to the centre since John Lewis arrived," McKinnon says.
The other new developments have seen John Whittaker shed any remaining vestiges of architectural reticence. The Great Hall is a phantasmagoria of marble and crystal, complete with the world's largest chandelier, while Barton Square is dominated by a Venetian-style campanile and fountains tinkle in shady courtyards. But nobody should dismiss them as a rich man's flights of fancy. McKinnon explains that they have been carefully targeted to expand the Trafford Centre offer and broaden its demographic.
The Great Hall opened last year on what was temporary events space behind the Oasis food court. Its role is to extend Trafford's catering offer to match the wider customer base. "We already had 55 eateries and the highest food & beverage revenue of any UK mall, but we wanted to bring in a different offer," says McKinnon. He summarises it as "upper mid-market casual dining" and it's attracted the likes of Carluccio's, Las Iguanas and Pesto, the new brand from the founder of La Tasca.
This year has seen the completion of Barton Square, a 200,000-sq ft extension purely for homewares brands. Linked to the existing centre by an ornate covered bridge, Barton Square is anchored by Marks & Spencer in 40,000 sq ft. British Home Stores took 29,000 sq ft on a single floor, and according to McKinnon it's "absolutely flying." Habitat also took 21,000 sq ft for its northern flagship, which features a new shopfit, and McKinnon says it's immediately become the number two store in the entire chain.
The new store for chic urban homewares brand Dwell has gone one better - McKinnon says it's the number one store in the 12-strong UK chain. And another interesting new arrival is the Canadian-based HomeSense which took 19,000 sq ft. "There's nowhere else like Barton Square in the country, and if you're an upper-mid market homewares brand you have to be there," says McKinnon.
McKinnon points out that few other developers could do what Peel has done at Barton Square - hold a piece of land for 15 years until the right use comes along. And this long-term view is reflected in its approach to the entire Trafford site. The centre only occupies 150 acres out of 500 acres of Peel-owned land, bounded by the motorway, the Ship Canal and the Bridgewater Canal, which McKinnon calls the 'Golden Rectangle'.
"Only now is the masterplan becoming a reality," he says, and the most prominent new development has been Chill Factor, the UK's newest and biggest indoor ski attraction. In the six months since it opened Chill Factor has been 100 per cent fully booked. It also features alpine-themed shops and restaurants. At the same time, the adjoining golf centre, the JJB soccerdome, the David Lloyd tennis centre and the Tulip Inn hotel have been brought together under the banner of the Trafford Quays Leisure Village. "They will work hand-in-glove with the shopping centre," says McKinnon. "We now have uniformity of branding."
The change will spark a new marketing push into the leisure market, promoting Trafford to travel operators as a single destination for weekend breaks, capitalising on the Trafford Centre's strong reputation in the industry which saw it emerge as one of the winners at this year's Group Travel Awards.
But while there's lots of activity around the edges of the centre, McKinnon is still focused on operations within the mall, and the opening of Barton Square has created a bit of liquidity in what is a notoriously tight mall. Even with headline rents of over £400 zone A, few retailers are willing to leave Trafford.
Decanting Bhs into Barton Square created the opportunity to reconfigure Sir Philip Green's holdings in the centre. Bhs retreated to the lower half of its former two-level store while the upper level has become a new flagship store for Topshop/Top Man. "It's a fantastic arrangement, a real win-win," says McKinnon.
At the same time, Marks & Spencer has expanded by adding two mezzanines to take its store to 55,000 sq ft, in addition to the 40,000 sq ft it has in Barton Square.
But as well as looking after the shops, McKinnon has been acquiring something of a political profile in Manchester, as part of Peel's controversial campaign against the proposed congestion charge.
McKinnon is adamant that the congestion charge must be defeated. "It's extremely bad news for everyone in Greater Manchester," he says. "It will hit business anywhere within the M60 and it will add to the costs of employees as well as businesses."
He points out that any of the 10,000 shop workers that drive to work at the Trafford Centre would be hit with the charge if they were not to be late for work, and it could eat up as much as 12 per cent of their take-home pay.
The background is that Greater Manchester has bid for funding to upgrade its public transport infrastructure from the government's £1.2bn Transport Innovation Fund. But the money comes with strings attached: any council winning a grant has to implement congestion charging. "Of course we want to see public transport improved, but the government is blackmailing local authorities," says McKinnon, "and our view is that this is a price not worth paying."
And Peel's campaign is gathering momentum. Over 150 companies have joined the group of businesses opposing the charge, and polls show 80 per cent opposition. The crunch could come when voters in Bury take part in a referendum on the charge. If they mandate their council to vote against it then there will no longer be the requisite majority of local authorities in favour of the charge, and the plan could collapse.
Perhaps McKinnon will have a double cause for celebration when Trafford hits its tenth birthday this autumn.
