Page 44 - Sep-Oct 2021

RLI RETAIL INSIGHT

Carving Up Shopping Centres

Retail has always existed in a state of Darwinian evolution. It’s often been
the case of adapt or get out of the way – playing out now at an accelerated
rate due to the pandemic, as the sector seeks to rebalance itself after
years of procrastination. But what should retail and shopping centres in
particular, be doing differently? Jorge Beroiz, Principal at CallisonRTKL,
a global architecture, design and planning practice with decades of retail
experience, could have the answer and it lays in mixed-use design.

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

44 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021