Showing posts with label Exeter Retailers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exeter Retailers. Show all posts
I'm today, 6 July, releasing the latest City Centre Management survey of vacant City Centre retail units (survey completed on 5 July).
Key facts:
- The latest Exeter vacancy rate stands at 7.10%.
- Drops in our vacancy figures continuing - 7.56% in March 2012, 7.41% in May & 7.10% in July.
- The Exeter vacancy rate remains significantly better than the national average - a figure that currently stands at 12.5-14%.
- Of the 16 City Centre areas for which vacancies are listed, 9 areas are showing the same vacancy rate as contained in the May vacancy survey and 5 areas are showing fewer vacancies than in May (High Street, Paris Street, Harlequins Shopping Centre, Princesshay and Sidwell Street).
- Of the 16 City Centre areas for which vacancies are listed, 6 areas are showing no vacancies at all.
Against a national backdrop that remains challenging, the latest Exeter vacancy figures are excellent. There are a number of reasons for the Exeter figures remaining so positive - there's without doubt a 'John Lewis effect', but the substantial levels of investment in the City Centre over the last decade and the exciting vision for City Centre development over the next decade are also key factors.
Further announcements of new name retailers will come before the next set of retail vacancy figures are published in September 2012 and I'm confident that we will continue to see a downward trend with the retail vacancy figures throughout the remainder of this year. In the longer-term we will continue to see further imporvement as long as we can maintain the momentum of City Centre change, renewal and investment.
John Harvey
Exeter City Centre Manager
Friday 6 July 2012
I’m today, 25 May, releasing the latest City Centre Management survey of vacant City Centre retail units (survey completed on 24 May).
Key facts:
The latest vacancy figures remain very encouraging, with a drop from the 'spike' shown in the March figures. I predicted that the vacancy figures would drop back from the March position and it's pleasing to see that prediction coming to fruition. A number of further deals are in the pipeline across the City Centre and I would now expect the downward trend in vacancy figures to continue in to the figures that will be published in July.
Taken within the context of UK wide recessionary pressures, consumers being reportedly worse off than a year ago and the recently recorded sharp fall in consumer spending, the latest Exeter vacancy figures are particularly encouraging. National challenges remain and it is more likely than not that there will be further national retailer casualties, with a knock-on effect on the Exeter figures. The reality is, however, that Exeter has consistently outperformed the UK average on retail vacancies and it is likely that this will remain the case.
There is no question that Exeter will continue to attract new retail names over the coming months. Exeter is a winning City Centre, with a winning vision for the future – a vision that John Lewis, Hollister, Bills, Cath Kidston and many other new name retailers and businesses will want to share with us over the coming year.
John Harvey
Exeter City Centre Manager
Friday 25 May 2012
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Key facts:
- The latest Exeter vacancy rate stands at 7.41%.
- The Exeter vacancy rate remains significantly better than the national average – a figure that currently averages at 12.85%.
- Of the 16 City Centre areas for which vacancies are listed, 11 areas are showing the same vacancy rates as contained in the March vacancy survey, 2 areas are showing an increase (South Street and High Street) and 3 areas are showing fewer vacancies than in March 2012 (Guildhall, Princesshay and Sidwell Street).
- Of the 16 City Centre areas for which vacancies are listed, 6 areas are showing no vacancies at all.
A breakdown of the number of vacant City Centre retail units is set out below -
The latest vacancy figures remain very encouraging, with a drop from the 'spike' shown in the March figures. I predicted that the vacancy figures would drop back from the March position and it's pleasing to see that prediction coming to fruition. A number of further deals are in the pipeline across the City Centre and I would now expect the downward trend in vacancy figures to continue in to the figures that will be published in July.
Taken within the context of UK wide recessionary pressures, consumers being reportedly worse off than a year ago and the recently recorded sharp fall in consumer spending, the latest Exeter vacancy figures are particularly encouraging. National challenges remain and it is more likely than not that there will be further national retailer casualties, with a knock-on effect on the Exeter figures. The reality is, however, that Exeter has consistently outperformed the UK average on retail vacancies and it is likely that this will remain the case.
There is no question that Exeter will continue to attract new retail names over the coming months. Exeter is a winning City Centre, with a winning vision for the future – a vision that John Lewis, Hollister, Bills, Cath Kidston and many other new name retailers and businesses will want to share with us over the coming year.
John Harvey
Exeter City Centre Manager
Friday 25 May 2012
Today has seen another new name added to the Exeter retail line-up – Virgin Media have opened a store in High Street, right in the heart of the City Centre. The Virgin Media store is the third new store to open in the City Centre during the last week, following hot-on-the-heels of JD Sports (in Princesshay) and Two Seasons (in Bedford Street).
Any new store opening is good news, but the Virgin Media store opening isn’t just a one-off. The latest survey of vacant City Centre retail units undertaken by my office (details set out below) shows a significant drop in the City Centre retail vacancy rate in November for the first time in 15 months. Clearly things could take a turn for the worse again, but it does really begin to feel as though things are beginning to move in the right direction. The percentage of City Centre units now lying empty stands at just 6.88%, considerably less than the national average, and, to date, the Christmas trading news filtering out from retailers is encouraging, with most reporting sales up on this time last year. And it’s not as if we’ve suddenly seen a batch of new stores opening with there having been no good news to report during the early Autumn – businesses such as Carluccio’s, which opened in September, don’t back anything other than competitive, winning centres and November saw new stores in the city for Chatham Marine (Bedford Street), Shake Away (Guildhall Shopping Centre) and Castle Galleries (Cathedral Yard), to name just three.
Although I’m far from complacent, I’m increasingly confident that there will be more new store announcements in the first quarter of 2010. Just catching-up on discussions in relation to attracting a new tenant to the former Woolworths unit this morning, I’m told that negotiations are in the final stages, with an announcement on a new tenant for that site likely in the new year.
Exeter isn’t immune from a challenging national economic picture, but we’ve performed well in comparison to many other town and city centres to date. We can look forward to the trend of positive store announcements continuing in to 2010.
John Harvey 11/12/2009
[More]
Any new store opening is good news, but the Virgin Media store opening isn’t just a one-off. The latest survey of vacant City Centre retail units undertaken by my office (details set out below) shows a significant drop in the City Centre retail vacancy rate in November for the first time in 15 months. Clearly things could take a turn for the worse again, but it does really begin to feel as though things are beginning to move in the right direction. The percentage of City Centre units now lying empty stands at just 6.88%, considerably less than the national average, and, to date, the Christmas trading news filtering out from retailers is encouraging, with most reporting sales up on this time last year. And it’s not as if we’ve suddenly seen a batch of new stores opening with there having been no good news to report during the early Autumn – businesses such as Carluccio’s, which opened in September, don’t back anything other than competitive, winning centres and November saw new stores in the city for Chatham Marine (Bedford Street), Shake Away (Guildhall Shopping Centre) and Castle Galleries (Cathedral Yard), to name just three.
Although I’m far from complacent, I’m increasingly confident that there will be more new store announcements in the first quarter of 2010. Just catching-up on discussions in relation to attracting a new tenant to the former Woolworths unit this morning, I’m told that negotiations are in the final stages, with an announcement on a new tenant for that site likely in the new year.
Exeter isn’t immune from a challenging national economic picture, but we’ve performed well in comparison to many other town and city centres to date. We can look forward to the trend of positive store announcements continuing in to 2010.
John Harvey 11/12/2009
