SCEPTRE winner - Darren Winter, Freeport Fleetwood

Published: 27 August, 2009

Darren Winter, Freeport Fleetwood

Manager of the Year at a Small Shopping Centre

After six years as manager of the Freeport Fleetwood shopping centre, Darren Winter has a number of achievements under his belt. In the last year centre turnover has risen by 3.01 per cent, particularly impressive considering the 2 per cent decrease in footfall.

This was largely down to Winter’s own marketing strategy, which focussed on the local population as the centre’s core customer base. The result was a significant rise of 6.8 per cent in customer spend.

Winter managed to reduce the number of voids from four to one by the end of 2008. The centre’s five new tenants enjoyed a close relationship with the manager as he helped them establish their stores via the Retail Support programme. This includes anything from merchandising support and staff training packages to quarterly business review meetings.

He developed strong working relations with tenants by holding regular meetings and visiting each store at least once a fortnight. A high standard has been met by tenants, many of whom have successfully completed the centre’s NVQ development programme.

In addition, he has worked with the National Skills Academy for Retail to establish a Retail Skills Shop within the centre.

Winter’s dedication to the local community adds hugely to his success as a centre manager. Fleetwood spent £128,000 on local services and set up no less than 154 individual community initiatives in 2008 alone.