Eye on Retail The leasing team at Lambert Smith Hampton might have a new name on their business cards, but the day to day challenges remain the same.
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easing Director Criona Collins can afford to be upbeat these days, displaying the kind of positivity that just wasn’t possible in the Northern Ireland retail property marketplace of a year or two ago. Back then, things could hardly have looked worse. Today, there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful, especially when you’re the property consultants in charge of lettings, asset management and management at Belfast’s retail jewel in the crown – Victoria Square. “Victoria Square has continued to go from strength to strength,” says Criona Collins. “In fact, we’re at the stage where we can start to fine tune the tenant mix. “European retailer Mango is just about to open its doors with a 8,000 Sq. Ft. flagship store, a new Karen Millen store opened a couple of months ago, we’ve got an impressive new concept Costa Coffee branch up and running. We are now looking forward to the arrival of two more great brand names in the run up to Christmas.” “Yo! Sushi, the Japanese style conveyor belt sushi chain founded by Simon Woodroffe, will open its first restaurant here in the coming months. We are also delighted that Victoria Square is to be one of a select number of UK locations for the new Goldsmiths Boutique retail concept,” adds Criona Collins. Criona Collins reckons that there is no doubt these days that Victoria Square is the Number 1 choice for national and international retailers and food/coffee chains locating within Northern Ireland. Collins concedes Donegall Place/ Royal Avenue may have lost out where Victoria Square has gained and Collins says that a cohesive City Centre strategy is urgently required. “The wider City Centre needs a decisive strategy that involves all of the stakeholders –landlords, retailers, property professionals and the local authorities included. It’s important for Belfast that we make sure that Donegall Place / Royal Avenue /Castle Lane regain their glory as busy, thriving retail zones,” says Collins.
“The problems can be solved. The arrival of successful shopping centres within city centres have led to difficulties in a number of other UK cities in the past, but there are ways of making sure that traditional and new retail centres co-exist. Working together, the key stakeholders can develop Belfast City Centre’s role as Northern Ireland’s Regional shopping destination, adds Criona Collins. Lambert Smith Hampton isn’t a new name to the Belfast and Northern Ireland property marketplace. But it re-appeared as a force to be reckoned with on the local stage when the London-based company acquired BTWShiells several months ago. The firm’s experts are responsible for the management and leasing of a number of shopping centres across Great Britain and Republic of Ireland and Criona Collins says that lettings are on an upward trend at most of these. A good example, she says, is Derry’s Foyleside Centre, where new retail arrivals include iConnect, Clintons and Monsoon. Forestside Shopping Centre has also witnessed a huge take up of space, approx 40,000 Sq.ft. with Next and H&M respectively. Retailing she adds is a much more sophisticated business all round now,” she says. “Shopping centres have to compete to attract the top retail names, and to convince retail decision-makers to invest in them. The whole retail experience is evolving and there are many shopping developments which are exciting and will attract retailers and consumers alike. There is a need for both retailers and shopping centre owners to keep abreast of the changing consumer behaviour whether that is their focus on social media as a platform for communication or the ever increasing use of smartphones. Consumers increasingly want to network with friends, check out prices and have a more traditional shopping centre experience all at the same time. Research is a key ingredient in ensuring that retailers have all the correct information as their head
Criona Collins, Director, Lambert Smith Hampton.
offices have strict criteria when undertaking new acquisitions. Intelligence is fundamental to gain insight into shopper behavior. Demographics, dwell time, potential spending power are all essential ingredients in helping retailers hit their required effort rates. It is imperative to know who the customers are, where they are coming from, how long they stay and how much they spend.” Collins says that retail growth is encouraging. “It’s not massive growth, but it’s moving in the right direction all the time,” she says. “Customers are spending more, the housing market is improving and relative political stability helps, as does the large number of tourists around the city centre. There’s no doubt that the atmosphere in Belfast is very good. The impending arrival of brands like Goldsmiths Boutique, Swarovski and Yo! Sushi adds another level of sophistication to Victoria Square, a centre which, in turn, has added a whole new layer of retail sophistication to the city as a whole. “I think we’re all very pleased with how the centre has evolved and developed over the last year or so. It’s now a retail venue which ranks among the very best that the British Isles can offer....and that’s not overstating it,” says Criona Collins.
Victoria Square’s success, has had a beneficial knock-on effect on the established city streets that immediately surround it, the likes of Arthur Street and Cornmarket. Among the retail names to sign up for pitches there are Joules, Jaeger and Doctor Marten’s. What appears to be evolving is a rationalisation of retailer’s demands, as retailers seek to trade out of fewer locations - to cap their cost base and utilise other multi channels to drive turnover. The knock on effect of this strategy is that moving forward there will be fewer retailers to take space and we may see a continued trend of high vacancy rates in Shopping Centres and Parks throughout Northern Ireland. One solution may be a complete review and over haul of our rating system which is the single largest barrier to retailers entering Northern Ireland’s retail market place. The wider retail property market, in fact the commercial property market in general, has entered a new phase, says the Lambert Smith Hampton director. Criona Collins quotes one assessment that described the 1980’s as ‘carefree’, the 90’s as ‘careless’, the 00’s as ‘careful’ and the current decade as ‘considered’. “I think it says it rather well, doesn’t it?” she asks.
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