Coming of Age
Published: 25 May, 2010
Glasgow’s St Enoch shopping centre is 21 this year, and the birthday celebrations on 25 May will coincide with the opening of Phase 2 of its £100m refurbishment and extension
Canadian developer Ivanhoe Cambridge has been busy over the past two years in a drive to re-establish the centre as Glasgow’s southern anchor, and the process started to come to fruition at Christmas with the opening of a Hamleys store which has already become the centre’s third anchor alongside Debenhams and Bhs.
Richard Kingston, vice president of leasing for the developer, explains: “We’ve laid the foundations by physically changing the centre and getting the circulation and the aesthetics right. That process finishes at the end of May with the opening of the upper mall and the food court.”
Kingston’s leasing strategy has been to gather a strong mix of youth brands together in the new extension that collectively become a destination. Music retailer Pulp is taking 1,625 sq ft, joining brands like Folie Folie and Swatch.
Multibrand fashion independent Xile is opening its first Glasgow store. The company already operates a G-Star franchise on the Argyle Street frontage of the centre, and in the run-up to Christmas it was the brand’s best-performing store worldwide.
Glasgow-based ski and snowboard retailer Trespass is to open its first store in the city. And in the latest deal Fossil has committed to a store ending a 10-year search for the right location in Glasgow.
At the same time Kimbles chocolate café is taking a 3,550-sq ft unit including a mezzanine level looking out over Buchanan and Argyle Streets.
The second element to the extension opens the centre out towards St Enoch Square, forming a new catering offer anchored by Nando’s situated above a Tesco store which will open this autumn. Boots is also extending its store with a new frontage onto the Square.
In parallel with the internal works, Ivanhoe Cambridge has been looking to forge stronger links with the other retailers on Argyle Street. It was once Glasgow’s prime pitch but over the decades it has lost ground to Buchanan Street. Kingston points out that five of Glasgow’s six most-visited stores are on or near the street – the only exception being John Lewis on Buchanan Street.
And its status as a destination will be reinforced when TK Maxx opens its largest store in Europe there this autumn.
Even ahead of the latest tranche of openings, Kingston reports that the refurb has had a big impact on St Enoch, with some weeks seeing footfall up between 40 and 60 per cent year-on-year. “We’ve been careful not to alienate our old St Enoch customer, but we’ve increased our penetration of the ABC demographic by 10 per cent,” he says. “We’re beginning to capture the Buchanan Street shopper.”
Even with the new space, voids in the centre are only running at 8 per cent. “It’s taken longer than we’d have liked,” admits Kingston, “but we’ve been careful to do the right deals. “We’re realistic on lease terms, but the most important thing is that we’re now seeing competition for units – something which wasn’t the case nine months ago.”
