The Rock gathers momentum
Published: 09 March, 2011
The Rock in Bury, near Manchester, was one of the few retail schemes to open in 2010. Six months on it’s performing well and centre management are looking to the future.
The £350m mixed-use scheme comprises over 500,000 sq ft of retail – 60 units with anchors Debenhams, Primark and M&S – over 100,000 sq ft of leisure including a 10-screen Vue cinema and AMF bowling complex and a 1,250-space car park.
Hammerson opened the scheme on time on July 16 despite turmoil when the original developer Thornfield Ventures went into administration just six months earlier.
“It was a challenge when Thornfield went into administration but we came through that,” says centre director David Laycock. “The bank continued with the scheme and Hammerson came on board. I was rattled but having worked on other developments I was used to change and we were able to get a really good team in place.”
The scheme sits in Bury town centre between three retail parks – Woodfield, Moorgate and Angouleme – and adjacent to the existing Millgate shopping centre and Bury market.
The focus for the five-strong management team is very much about ‘connecting’ The Rock with the community.
“Bury has been robbed of its jewels over the years and The Rock has been a catalyst for development in the town – it’s been like fitting a missing organ back into the body,” explains Laycock.
Despite opening at a time of economic unrest, the centre is performing well. Footfall has hit 5.5m, a figure expected to be “north of 10m” by the end of the first year.
Much of the success is down to what marketing manager Nikki Kitchen describes as a “brave, fresh and innovative” marketing campaign.
“It’s important to engage with people and our marketing strategy is very social media led,” she explains. “We try to be tech-savvy and not to do the usual bog-standard shopping centre marketing which can be very safe and tried and tested. We have to do something that’s right for the demographic, a 20-44 age group, and so far it’s worked very well.”
To coincide with the opening, 2,500 artificial rocks were sent out to locals, each with a unique Facebook code with winning codes exchanged for prizes. Campaigns like this helped The Rock’s Facebook page to reach 6,000 fans in the first two weeks – now that figure is closer to 10,000.
As well as bringing a host of new retailers to the town, The Rock, which is open until 8pm on weekdays, has brought an evening economy to Bury. And according to Laycock, Christmas trade was “superb”.
“The snow affected us at the end of the week before Christmas but we have a very good customer-facing team who kept an eye on the weather news and changed shift patterns to clear walkways so that retailers could come in and trade on time,” he says.
The security team work on an “action and interaction” basis and are encouraged to act as customer service officers, communicating with tenants and customers alike.
As part of management’s passion to fit into the community, the centre has hosted several events and is supporting local charities with its bursary scheme – a £20,000 fund earmarked to support arts, culture and environmental organisations.
Laycock is very keen to support young people and is proud of the Street Stars competition, which saw 10 talented teenagers picked to perform on the centre’s main drag every Saturday between October and Christmas.
Looking to the future, the next step is about putting a strategy in place and widening the catchment area – there are 2m people living within a 30 minute drive – to extend out to Rochdale, Oldham, Bolton and even Blackburn.
“We’re 85 per cent let by floorspace and the aim now is to get everything let,” says Laycock. “It’s going to be a very demanding year and a watershed year for The Rock. We want to develop the look and feel of the brand and keep pushing footfall. This is a dynamic phase and there’s going to be a lot of change over the next five to six months.”
