On the money

Manchester Arndale is bucking the downward market trend with footfall figures and retail spend rising. Claire Elliott reports

Published: 19 May, 2008

Page 14

Manchester has witnessed one of the UK's biggest city centre transformations in recent years, with an investment in retail, leisure, sport and conference facilities assisting in whizzing the city into the top three spot in the UK for people to visit.

Glen Barkworth, centre manager at Manchester Arndale, certainly has a passion for the city. Since taking on the role in 2000, he has seen through a massive extension and refurbishment project, which has taken the Prudential and Capital Shopping Centre's site up to 1.55 million sq ft and the estate as a whole (including units not owned by the landlord, such as Bhs and the Market Hall) up to 1.75 million sq ft.

And the hard work has evidently paid off because in the first quarter of 2008 the centre has seen a rise in footfall of 12.2 per cent, following a record year in 2007 where footfall hit 32.5 million - making it the first time footfall has beaten the pre-IRA bombing figures of 28.5 million back in 1995.

"It's taken us the best part of 12 years to counter the effects of the 1996 bombing and 1998, when the Trafford Centre opened," says Barkworth. "That has also transmitted to sales, which are up 9.8 per cent - these are audited figures that we're getting from the retailers. People are responding to the product. If the footfall trend continues we'll be over 35 million this year and I'm not aware of many centres experiencing that sort of footfall."

So in what ways has Manchester Arndale changed since it first opened for business 32 years ago in September 1976?

Up until 2006, when the centre was transformed into the mall that shoppers flock in their masses to visit today, the town centre scheme was a typical 1970s design with low ceilings, low light levels and a fairly daunting atmosphere. Prudential bought the site in 1998 and invested £170m into redeveloping and extending the centre. The new extension was completed in three phases and saw 80 new units added to the scheme - interestingly no decision was taken to introduce a department store anchor, instead Next anchored the new scheme with a huge 150,000 sq ft flagship store. That makes Manchester Arndale the largest shopping centre in the world without a department store.

Exchange Court, which created large units for the likes of Next, River Island and Eat, was the first phase to open in October 2005; New Cannon Street followed in April 2006, boasting retailers such as Topshop/Topman, Hotel Chocolat, Warehouse and Apple; and finally the Wintergarden, with its high 'cathedral' glazed atrium, opened in September 2006 - exactly 30 years after the centre first opened. In addition, the Market Hall was refurbished to mirror the quality of finishes in the malls.

With Liverpool One opening this month, and the Trafford Centre up the road, the north-west now has three of the highest calibre retail areas in the whole of the UK. But Barkworth, who is also a director on CityCo, is not concerned about the impact the new Grosvenor scheme could have on the Arndale's footfall and sales.

"We do a postcode analysis with our marketing and less than 2 per cent of the customers coming to Manchester Arndale have an L postcode," he says. "It's not significant because halfway between Liverpool and Manchester is the Trafford Centre and there's a tendency for people in Altrincham and Warrington to shop there, so it's not going to affect us to any great extent."

Instead Barkworth focuses on attracting the 160,000 Manchester city centre office workers into the Arndale centre during their lunch breaks, while at weekends it's about bringing families and other groups of people into the centre, and Manchester as a whole, for longer dwell periods.

However, while the scheme is enjoying huge success, Barkworth acknowledges that a challenge remains. "There's so much excitement here," he says. "Both Prudential and Capital Shopping Centres are very progressive. Every month there's a discussion about the next move. We won't sit still, and if that means knocking other parts of the centre down in the future to accommodate change, then the landlords won't be shy in coming forward."