H&M, JD & Smiggle to join line-up at Poole’s Dolphin shopping centre

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Sep 26, 2017

Three new brands have signed up to open stores at the Dolphin, Dorset’s largest covered shopping centre, which is undergoing a £26 million revamp.

Swedish fashion giant H&M will take the former BHS unit, creating a 27,000 sq ft destination over two levels, while sports fashion retailer JD Sports will open a 6,120 sq ft unit. Smiggle joins the line-up with a new 560 sq ft store.

These deals follow the recent announced signing of German shoe retailer Deichmann and the upsizing and lease extension by fashion brand New Look.

“Attracting top brands to the Dolphin centre is really important to position the shopping centre as a significant attraction on the south coast for tourists and residents alike. Combined with the improvement works, we’re determined to significantly improve the facilities to appeal to all our customers,” said Mark Russell, Senior Fund Manager at LGIM Real Assets.

The 530,000 sq ft shopping centre has annual footfall of 11 million and features over 100 retailer, restaurant and leisure brands. The scheme, anchored by M&S, Primark and Beales department store, is being further improved with a £26m investment programme which is due to be completed by the end of 2018.

The revamp project will focus on an internal mall refresh, improvements to the open-air Falkland Square and Kingland Crescent and the redevelopment of the former Argos building to create a new nine-screen Empire cinema with four restaurants.

Popular brands with a presence at the mall include River Island, New Look, Next, Boots, Clarks and Pandora.