November 7, 2018
Trevor Wood Associates’ Going Shopping 2019 – The Definitive Guide to Shopping Centres has named Westfield London as the leading UK shopping centre. The 2.6m sq ft Shepherds Bush centre has overtaken Westfield Stratford City, which had topped the table for 6 consecutive years. The comprehensive research underlines the strength of the nation’s premier retail centres in the face of tough market conditions. Alongside its renowned retail rankings, the 2019 guide provides a wealth of information, including rankings of anchor tenants and a detailed review of the development pipeline.
Trevor Wood Associates has published its extensive analysis of the UK’s shopping centre market for more than three decades. This year’s flagship report, Going Shopping 2019, once again ranked schemes above 50,000 sq ft by overall attractiveness to shoppers, retailers and investors. Points were allocated for a range of features, including tenants, lettable area, weekly footfall and facilities available.
Hot on the heels of the opening of its £600 million extension in March, Westfield London claimed top spot, moving up from third position in 2018. Westfield Stratford City dropped to second, Bluewater slipped from second place to third, followed by ranking risers, Meadowhall and Intu Trafford Centre.
The report highlights the presence of a Premier Division of 27 leading shopping centres, each amassing more than 4,200 points. Many of these front runners have, like Westfield London, asserted their dominance by investing in major development projects. Indeed, 38 of the 500 leading schemes refurbished or extended in the last 24 months. Details of all this activity is contained in the report’s 11 regional sections.
The highly acclaimed research also includes analysis of the occupier market. For the second consecutive year, Costa Coffee is the leading shopping centre tenant, with 289 units in 259of the Top 500 centres. The remaining top 5 spots went to Card Factory, EE, New Look and Boots.
The 2018 report incorporated a new set of tables looking at the top 500 centres’ most prevalent anchor tenants. This year, Boots was named the leading top anchor store for the top100 schemes with H & M second. Positions are reversed if you look at the top 200 and 500 schemes, with H & M leading Boots.
Elsewhere, The Works was named the fastest growing retailer with the addition of 26 units this year. The collapse of Poundworld saw it shed the greatest number of units, with 117 stores closing down.
Intu Properties moved up a position to become the leading investment manager for UK shopping centres, followed by NewRiver REIT (UK) and Ellandi LLP.
Savills retained its crown as the top managing agent and continued its winning spree by replacing Cushman & Wakefield as the leading shopping centre letting agent.
Other key findings include regional breakdowns of analysis, together with reviews and rankings of all 111 Shopping Parks, 40 factory outlet centres and 33 shopping and leisure centres.
Meanwhile, Trevor Wood Associates’ provides its annual detailed assessment of the development pipeline. Trading conditions may be challenging, yet developers and investors alike still have faith in the long-term prospects of prime retail destinations.
The report finds that more than 19 million sq ft of floorspace has been added by 80 new schemes that have opened in the last ten years, while 19extensions have been completed, accounting for a further 4 million sq ft of additional space. The appetite for development remains strong despite market uncertainty. There are currently proposals for a further 66 schemes, just 18 fewer than last year.
