Reach for the stars

Footfall is up at County Square in Ashford following its recently opened extension. Claire Elliott reports

Published: 16 June, 2008

Page 34

Customers have been flocking to County Square in Ashford, from across the region since ING opened the extension to the Kent scheme in March, almost doubling the size of the existing shopping centre.

For the first time, Ashford has a department store, with Debenhams trading in 90,000 sq ft, while other flagship stores include the likes of River Island, H&M, Next, New Look and Jane Norman. The £120m shopping centre extension opened on March 20, and has taken the centre up to 435,000 sq ft. It brings the total number of units at the scheme to more than 50 and also includes a 620-space multi-storey car park.

In addition to the extension, the existing centre has also been refurbished with new floor tiles and reconfiguration of Centre Square - which saw the removal of the old café that took up the whole square, and the introduction of a Costa Coffee on one side, leaving event space on the other side. Also introduced are new entrance doors, new signage, new toilets, and newly refurbished and upgraded lifts. All tenants that refitted their units within the existing centre were also encouraged to go to full-height glazed fronts.

"ING bought County Square at the end of 2004," says commercial manager Frances Burt. "They purchased several shopping centres, all with a view that they could be redeveloped. This was the biggest and I think the first to be started."

The additional retailers are set to support the growth taking place in the Kent town. Ashford is a government-designated growth area with more than £600m being invested in the town through various initiatives, including 31,000 new homes by 2031, the completion of a £55m Ashford Learning Campus by 2009, and a new high-speed rail line to St Pancras International opening in autumn 2009.

Since opening, County Square has been attracting shoppers from Folkestone, Maidstone and even Canterbury. Footfall figures are showing a 31 per cent increase on this time last year, and as a result its retailers are happily failing to feel the full impact of the credit crunch.

While there are still units to let, existing tenants are reporting far better sales figures, while the new retailers have reported better than expected figures for the first few days of opening.

"We had people queuing from 9am on the first day of opening and we finally opened the barriers to let them through at 11.15am," says Burt. "And people were running to get in." In fact, the sheer numbers of people meant staff had to prevent a large number of customers from going in immediately.

"Then on the 26 April we had a Spring Spectacular with Titan the Robot and it was like rush hour in the tube station because to try and walk down the mall was impossible," adds Burt. "It kicked off at 11am, finished at 4pm and was heaving all day."

Prior to the extension, Burt says the mall was failing to attract all the ABC1 shoppers in Ashford, so it was ING's aim to encourage them to shop in the town centre rather than travelling to Canterbury and Bluewater. Ashford's fast-changing demographic also incorporates a large number of young families as well as quite a lot of older people.

"We are planning to hit the Ashford people that we are not getting and hit the areas where this will be a natural shopping centre area for them," she says. "While we would like to attract people from Maidstone and Canterbury, we have to appreciate they have a fair shopping offer, but there are places that haven't so that's where we are planning to hit.

"We are keen to attract people from Dover, Folkestone, New Romney and Hythe as well as the outlaying areas of Ashford. We will hit them with a Royal Mail direct delivery and radio advertising. We are also going to look at how much it will cost to advertise on the trains."

Adrienne Robins, of County Square's PR and marketing company Adams Creative, points out that Ashford has a different offer to Bluewater and Canterbury and adds: "We want new people to visit County Square and we need to attract those people within the half-an-hour drive time and encourage them to come to us for everyday stuff rather than drive to Canterbury all the time."

Burt also works closely with the rest of the town to attract people to visit. "I am chairperson for the Marketing and Promotions Group for the town and together with the town centre co-ordinator we are trying to get a meeting set up between us and the manager of Park Mall (located across the High Street from County Square).

"Traditionally," she adds, "Park Mall do a Christmas light switch-on on one Sunday, and then there's a Family Fun Day on another Sunday. County Square doesn't do anything but we are trying to have one big Family Fun Day this year and have something going on everywhere. We are also looking at some other joint events."

Within the centre, there are still nine void units currently without offers. "We are waiting to fill some units," says Burt. "It's not an easy time for any retailer and there are a lot of people in the wings showing interest. It's trundling along in its own slow way but we will get there. Customers are saying the centre is lovely but they want more shops now, however, there are offers on some units."

Burt is also planning to introduce RMUs onto the malls once some final floor tiles have been taken up and re-laid. "Commercialisation has suffered a little because of the development, but I have one RMU that's lived with us through thick and thin," she says. "Once the works are complete I have two promotional spaces lined up and three RMUs, and I am also looking at poster sites to bring in income.

"Commercialisation is very much on the agenda, but we don't want to do what a lot of shopping centres are doing and maximising every space we can find. I don't want to clutter the space as I want that nice open feel."

With the shoppers enjoying the new light, airy malls, it's not surprising Burt doesn't want to interfere with the ambience met with such high acclaim from customers. Why mess with a winning formula!