Twenty years on - The Shires, Leicester
Published: 10 February, 2011
After a long gestation period The Shires finally began to fulfil its potential when it doubled in size and was rebranded as Highcross Leicester
The £125m Shires shopping centre in Leicester was a “12-year dream” for The Imry Group of companies when it opened in 1991.
“Martin Myers, then chief executive of The Imry Group, was a little bit like Willy Wonka as he walked through The Shires” was the opening paragraph in Shopping Centre’s coverage of the opening in its February 1992 issue.
The 500,000 sq ft centre – with 1,000-space car park – opened with 62 of 85 units either open or spoken for.
The development had had its ups and downs, including losing its anchor tenant Lewis’s department store to bankruptcy, causing smaller retailers to doubt a move to the scheme. House of Fraser signed for the anchor unit six weeks later.
On 4 September 2008, Hammerson and Hermes unveiled a £350m extension, at the same time renaming the centre Highcross.
Now the centre – anchored by John Lewis, House of Fraser and Debenhams – covers 1m sq ft including 65,000 sq ft of catering and a multi-screen cinema. Other retailers include Apple, All Saints and Zara.
On the day of opening Highcross Leicester was 87 per cent let by income and 90 per cent let by space and the joint owners calculated that it took less than a fortnight for the millionth customer to walk through the doors.
Jo Tallack has been at Hammerson for 11 years. She joined Highcross as deputy general manager in January 2008, having previously worked at West Quay in Southampton.
She is currently standing in as interim general manager after Mark Murphy left just weeks after taking up the role.
“Highcross has completely evolved and changed,” she said. “In 2008 when the extended centre opened we were going through a massive recession – it kicked off just as we were opening our doors and the first year was a challenge but in some ways the centre benefitted because we were able to establish new business.”
“We’ve had an absolutely amazing Christmas. We’ve been walking around with big smiles on our faces – it’s really positive.”
“In the coming years we want to continue signing new retailers. And there’s still room to grow and develop in terms of improving the mall environment and listening to what our customers want. Our main focus is working with the city so that people are more aware of what Leicester has to offer.”
