Despite research showing physical stores will account for £8 of every £10 to be spent in retail by 2025, we’re still perpetuating the notion that retail is dying. Retail’s Local Data Company recently reported 70 shopping centres in the UK are set to close and while some big brand stores also closed their doors last year, it does not have to be so bad! As we emerge from this challenging year, the majority of us recognise some of the changes are for the better; be it less commuting, more time with family and shopping closer to home; the pandemic has brought an opportunity for local retail and mixed-use neighbourhoods to really come in to their own.
Shopping centres need to provide a new purpose to the merely transactional. Yes, they need to become better connected to public transport but they also need to establish a connection with community and become more environmentally-focused.
Space for social interactions
Moving forward there is a huge opportunity to carve up and repurpose shopping centres to present thriving mixed-use hubs. That does not just mean offering the usual retail and leisure facilities but becoming a multipurpose environment, responding to the change that Coronavirus has brought to us. A better social interactive experience using a mix of both indoor and outdoor spaces, cultural amenities and flexible spaces to turn into one off open markets or al fresco dining areas will be vital
These places need to be refreshed to become active communities so, when Government restrictions ease centres can create events which foster social and cultural interactions within the retail environment.
An agent in the evolution of retail will be the recent planning law reform in the UK, consolidating a large number of planning use classes into a single category, allowing for large scale repurposing of buildings without the need for planning consent. We are now no longer shackled to the concept, one building, and one use. The convergence of this legislation change compounded with our behavioural changes spurred on by the pandemic will have a dramatic impact on shopping centres that will become more self-sustainable – this will affect lease terms, with pop-ups and collaboration stores keeping the neighbourhood vibrant and exciting.
Transforming existing spaces
Existing retail spaces are already beginning to transform, think John Lewis. The department store recently announced its intention to become a residential landlord, planning to build rental homes beside or above its Waitrose brands. It also plans to kit out the homes with John Lewis branded furniture and fittings, thus expanding its influence into the everyday life of the resident.
Last year Brandon Stephens, entrepreneur and founder of Tortilla, laid out his vision to reinvent former department store sites and convert them into hybrid spaces. Instead of a homogenous concept rolled out across different cities he wants to provide ‘local operators and a recognition of what people there want and need.’
With a similar concept and outside the UK, our Firm are working with a retail Investor to develop the concept of a “Warehouse” A Mixed Use of wellbeing, co-working, temporary pop ups, incubators and permanent retail / food outlets.
This re-purposing of spaces across the UK presents an innovative approach to addressing space, retail’s place within it and our changing needs as a society.
Re-designing traditional fit outs
Even pre-pandemic the purpose of a store changed, its mission to nurture identity, connection and loyalty, not merely to distribute goods. As a three-dimensional representation of the brand, it informs and excites, bringing meaning to both real-world and online interactions.
Flexibility is the order of the day, say goodbye to fixed structures bound by long leases. Pop-ups and retail residencies with modular stores and weekly rotations are on the rise. An effective way to mitigate risk and combat consumer fatigue, create partnerships and maintain engagement with trend-led timelier offerings.
‘Shopping centres’ a word of the past!
Like train stations before them that were built in the peripheries of the cities and are now imbedded in the urban fabric as the city grows around them – these places known once as a place for only retail will become more holistic.
While innovation enables convenience, safety and brand engagement, people and communities must come first and sales personnel remain critical to the experience, with new technology freeing them up to play more of a personal shopper and brand advocate role. Prioritising and facilitating that human connection – giving your brand a human face – is still absolutely fundamental.
With the continued evolution of our retail landscape, if you create spaces that bring people together and make them feel engaged, the sales, offline and online, will come. The focus for bricks-and-mortar retail should be about re-configuring its place in our local high streets and new look neighbourhoods complementing online to create a complete brand experience. This is how we bring meaning back to retail and people back to our stores whatever they may look like in our changing world.
In retail, like every aspect of our lives, the pandemic has accelerated and amplified challenges that were already weighing us down. While the impact has been profound, history teaches us that challenging times reward those who act with an unshakeable desire.