Buttermarket shopping centre, Ipswich
Published: 31 March, 2011
The Buttermarket opened on October 1 1992 and featured in the following month’s issue of Shopping Centre with the headline: Ipswitched on!
The £65m scheme was built on four levels - two levels of retailing and a two-level 430-space underground car park – totalling 270,000 sq ft.
The main anchors at the time of opening were Owen Owen – with a 120,000-sq ft split level store - and C&A and a further 46 smaller units ranging from 775 to 3,650 sq ft.
Seventeen units were let, fitting out or open with a further eight under offer. Letting agents Hillier Parker and Elsom, Woodward & Spettigue offered both rack-rent and turnover deals.
Boots, Zoo, Forever Green, Kid’s Carnival, Creed Menswear, Athena, Claude-Gill and Andy’s Records were open for trade on day one with FDQ, Supercuts, Ricky, Fizz Fashions, Rymans, Benetton and Covent Garden General Store set to open before Christmas.
The Promenade, a 350-seat foodcourt operated by Courtlands, included operators Burger King, Potato Bakehouse, Sandwich & Patisserie and Perfect Pizza Slice.
Part of the original Shopping Centre coverage read: “The Buttermarket got off to a resounding start with an unexpected false fire alarm and evacuation. That over, however, both shoppers and tenants were able to look at the potential for the town’s newest retail location. What they saw seemed to please them....The Buttermarket provides a light, lively shopping experience, complemented by good finishes and interesting architecture.”
In October 2008, the Balcony Foodcourt opened with tenants Wimpy, El Taco Loco, Just Spuds and Bean 2 Cup.
Current retailers include New Look, Modelzone, The Pound Shop, Hallmark Cards, Blue Inc, Laura Ashley, Boots, T.K. Maxx, Merc, Attitude, Starbucks and Shakeaway.
“There have been lots of changes since October 1992,” says centre manager, Colin Roberts.
“The centre was built to be an icon of modern architecture and structurally it has lasted very well indeed but when we opened in ’92 the recession hit and retailers were no longer happy with 1,500 sq ft units – it just wasn’t what they were looking for.
“What the centre was designed for didn’t quite work out so we had to be flexible - we slabbed in part of the first floor, turning several shop units into one big TK Maxx and another few units into a BhS,” he explains. “We now have 30 units but they’re much much bigger.”
The mall also had several open space areas - some of those were re-jigged to allow space for nine RMUs.
“It’s been an exciting ride,” says Roberts. “We were the secondary shopping centre in the town and we’re now the dominant centre.
“We’ve got the magnet store we needed but because we knocked units together, we don’t have the brand mix that people want,” he admits . “I would love to see the centre extended out towards the waterfront so we can attract brands like Hollister and Lush that wouldn’t have considered Ipswitch before.”
