Report suggests new Victoria Gate is ‘almost too high end’ for the region

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jul 7, 2017

Despite being well-let, a number of tenants are looking to move out of the new Victoria Gate shopping centre nearly 10 months after its opening, has revealed a new report from Colliers.

The £165m shopping scheme is anchored by a flagship John Lewis and boasts a robust line-up of aspirational fashion and food retailers including Russell & Bromley, Aspinal of London, Le Pain Quotidien, Neom Organics, T2, GANT, Hackett, Tommy Hilfiger and Anthropologie.

The development was named Best Shopping Centre in the world at the Mipin Awards earlier this year, but the Yorkshire Evening Post reported that the scheme has still vacant units and that three are being currently actively marketed by tenants.

“For what it’s worth, in my opinion the scheme is almost too high-end and encourages a shopping treat as opposed to day-to-day sales,” said Tom Cullen, Colliers’ retail director for the north to the Yorkshire Evening Post on Wednesday.

“Phase two is to be leisure-led, we understand, but we feel demand is limited given other deals in the city and the peripheral nature of the second phase of the scheme,” he added. 

Victoria Gate is adjacent to another Hammerson mall, Victoria Quarter, and together they provide over 60,000 sq ft of high-end stores and restaurants.

Meanwhile, Colliers’ annual Midsummer Retail Report showed that large fashion brands are increasingly competing for large flagship stores in cities across Yorkshire. Retailers like New Look, H&M and Zara are choosing to leave stores of up to 7,000 sq ft in favour of 40,000+ sq ft units in cities including Leeds.

The need for upsizing has seen New Look, H&M, Primark and Decathlon move into former BHS stores in popular locations across the region, however a larger number of units remain unlet, says Colliers' report.