Retail in Greater Manchester

[andysimo123]

Originally Posted by uklad1979

Burger King in Piccadilly is closed and seems to be having a refit. Maybe it will open as a KFC/Burger King dual unit which is due to be rolled out here as it is in other countries.

I don't think its having a refit. Closing down and opening as something else is more likely. I know of a number that closed down since Christmas. Afew have turned into Pizza huts.

[flange]

Yes alot of Burger Kings have been closing down and opening under other fast food brands, but the Burger King at Piccadilly Gardens did put a license in a before christmas for late night refreshments i think and a music license aswell so it seems that there will still be a Burger King in the city centre.

P.S. 100 pages of retail wooooooooooooooooooo

[flange]

Radley

Vanessa Lees discovers it’s in the bag for Radley

Where?
Radley
8 New Cathedral Street
Manchester
Lancs
M1 1AD
0161 834 0531

History
The Radley brand has been around, it seems like forever, characterised by the little leather Scottie dog hanging off all accessories And although you can faithfully locate it in concessions in most department stores, a Radley store has just been launched in New Cathedral Square, sitting amongst the likes of Hobbs, Burberry and Harvey Nichols. This is a real plus for Manchester as it’s the only store outside London.

What does it sell?
You can’t accuse Radley of not covering all areas. They stock a million different ranges, many complete with key rings, pencil cases, business cardholders, luggage tags, cosmetics cases, passport covers, wallets, luggage and handbags. If you like being thoroughly coordinated Radley is your brand.

Who shops there?
Radley is one of those makes, of which you’re either a faithful follower or you really just don’t get it. It’s not what one would class as high fashion, you wouldn’t find a Radley bag swinging off Kate Moss’ elbow but you might well see opera singer Katherine Jenkins skipping through the valley with one in tow. It’s a safe, twee designer brand.

Why go there?
Again, you’re only going to go there if it’s your kind of thing. What we will say is this it is a superbly made brand and they are constantly coming up with quirky, fresh designs, if not bordering on a little prissy sometimes. Perfect for spring time, complemented by Alice band and cup cakes.

The future?
Depending on the success of the Manchester store, we’re sure Radley will be popping up in other major cities.

Verdict
Essential accessory for those whose catch phrase is “such fun” and “jolly”.

http://www.bodyconfidential.com/inde...AjNwB6IaqiNwA&

[flange]

Burger King is now open again at Piccadilly Station

Aslo Monsoon and Monsoon Children will be opening at Piccadily Station they will be opening the unit that HMV used to be in.





Sorry about the quality they are from my mobile.

[uklad1979]

Work has started on the unit next to Subway & Eurochange in the Arndale. No idea what is going in their but the unit looked much bigger than the others next to it.

[andysimo123]

Most of the Burger kings in train stations and motorways are run by someone else. Its all franchises, the ones in the towns are own by one person and then someone else runs the ones in prime locations like train stations. They also have higher prices and don't do offers.

[flange]

Cafe Nero will be opening underneath 80 Mosley Street, there is a sign in the window recruiting for staff.

Adecco is nearly finished at City Tower, it look like they will be taking the whole unit and not just half, as the unit was apprently going to be split up into two but there is no second set of doors and dividing wall.

Burger King will reopen at Piccadilly Gardens on Friday 15th February after the store has had 'remodeling works.'

Some new signage is now starting to be put into place at Next mainly in Exchange Court in the Arndale.

[jrb]

The good folk of Wigan will soon be heading down to Manchester City Centre in there droves.

Posh pie shop to open in city centre


A gourmet pastry firm started by a former Sainsbury's buyer and a Claridge's chef is to open its first retail outlet in Manchester city centre. Ben Davies and Emmanuel Lioux launched Macclesfield-based Crumbs, which offers a range of upmarket pasties, pies and quiches, in October 2006. Waitrose began stocking its range last April, and Davies is predicting sales of £600k in its first year. The firm has also just signed a lease with Bruntwood to take a unit at the base of its City Tower development at Piccadilly Plaza, where it will commence trading in April. “We're confident in the Crumbs products and brands,” said Davies. “We're not just another sandwich retailer.”

[macc]

Originally Posted by jrb

The firm has also just signed a lease with Bruntwood to take a unit at the base of its City Tower development at Piccadilly Plaza, where it will commence trading in April.

Pies AND doughnuts in the City Tower.

Get in! The area's gonna be full of little fatties runnig about the place soon. And one of them will most definately be me.

[uklad1979]

I went around St Anns Sq and King Street today and they are in rapid decline! EasyInternet is now closed so that's that building empty, On the Royal Exchange side you have the old JD/Nike & the posh purfume shop closed then you have the old WHSmith unit still empty after all these years. On Kind Street things are looking bad, the place has lost it's shine and I can see more retailers leaving soon.

[ThomH]

Originally Posted by uklad1979

I went around St Anns Sq and King Street today and they are in rapid decline! EasyInternet is now closed so that's that building empty, On the Royal Exchange side you have the old JD/Nike & the posh purfume shop closed then you have the old WHSmith unit still empty after all these years. On Kind Street things are looking bad, the place has lost it's shine and I can see more retailers leaving soon.

It's interesting, from an outsiders (ie non-retail expert but enthusiastic shoppper viewpoint) Manchester's retail scene largely seems broad, deep and vibrant. But, when I think about individual pitches or retail areas in detail the picture is pretty grim:

King St -
Definitely on the slide, several empty sites and the loss of some key names.
St Annes Square -
Currently half empty and with an ill thought out mish-mash of retailers - McDonalds and luxury jewellers? Lacks identity.
New Cathedral Street -
There's been some churn but it seems strong, that said I hear Harvey Nicks and Selfridges are not deemed to be trading well.
The Triangle -
Or the Bermuda Triangle as ManCon unkindly called it. Full of empty units after half-arsed repositioning.
Printworks -
Initial stab at retail/leisure mix has been abandoned to concentrate on the latter.
The Royal Exchange -
Prime site but a non-starter. If retailers were chomping at the bit I'm sure this would be happening.

Apart from a few more peripheral areas (the bottom end of Deansgate becoming a homewares mecca) and the continued vibrancy of the N4 (Afflecks issues notwithstanding) it seems that Market St/Arndale is the only current retail success story in the city centre.

I find that sad, and not a little worrying. Don't get me wrong, a successful city has to maintain a substantial lower to mid-market appeal (and lets not be snobbish about that) but with the upper-mid/high-end areas seemingly failing our current spread of aspirational and "statement" retailing feels precarious.

Anyone of the inside care to let me know if my concerns are on or off the mark?

How does the Trafford Centre fit into all this?

Cheers

Thom

[staticmeltdown]

When does the legislation forcing landlords to pay full business rates on empty units come into force?

Do people expect this to have an effect on rents?

[flange]

Laura Ashley are going to be opening there second Manchester store at Barton Square, they are now advertising for jobs.

MANAGER

Manchester

Full-time

Industry sector/s: Retail and Wholesale

Overview

LAURA ASHLEY NEW STORE OPENING MANCHESTER - BARTON SQUARE (Trafford Centre)

Laura Ashley will shortly be opening a new store in Manchester. We are now looking for talented and committed individuals to join our dedicated sales team in the following role: MANAGER You will need to be confident, flexible and enthusiastic with a real flair for customer service. In return we offer attractive salaries, substantial staff discounts and superb training and development programmes. We regret that we are unable to acknowledge applications. If you do not hear from us within four weeks, please assume you have been unsuccessful.
If you wish to apply for the above role, please send your c.v. and a covering letter to: Emma Buckley, Laura Ashley Ltd, Unit A, Cheetham Hill Retail Park, Elizabeth Street, Manchester M8 8BB Closing date 21st February 2008

http://www.thejobsmine.co.uk/show_jo...ge=search_list

So know the line up for Barton Square so far is

M&S Home
Habitat
Next Home
British Home Stores
Dwell
Laura Ashley

[markydeedrop]

[heatonparkincakes]

ThomH said "Apart from a few more peripheral areas (the bottom end of Deansgate becoming a homewares mecca) and the continued vibrancy of the N4 (Afflecks issues notwithstanding) it seems that Market St/Arndale is the only current retail success story in the city centre."

Good grief read and that it depressed me. In my opinion even Market St looks tacky. The new arndale has sucked in lots of other parts of the city centre and it is give or take if this is wonderful.

[heatonparkincakes]

..

[ThomH]

Originally Posted by heatonparkincakes

ThomH said "Apart from a few more peripheral areas (the bottom end of Deansgate becoming a homewares mecca) and the continued vibrancy of the N4 (Afflecks issues notwithstanding) it seems that Market St/Arndale is the only current retail success story in the city centre."

Good grief read and that it depressed me. In my opinion even Market St looks tacky. The new arndale has sucked in lots of other parts of the city centre and it is give or take if this is wonderful.

Hmmm... I can't quite make sense of the first line of that last post, but that may be down to sleep-deprivation due to teething/satanically possessed young children...

Maybe my own post was a little muddy so to clarify - My point was about which retail areas are doing well, not what retail mix or tenants were good for the city (on a holistic economic level or for personal shopping pleasure).

The Arndale is of course appalling and decimated a wonderful set of streepscapes around Shudehill (though it could be argued a city like Manchester was always likely to end with with a mall and that it was never going to be pretty). Market street, refurbed or not, is cack. It's like a bigger version of High St, Anywheretown.

But, compared to other retail areas in the city centre they seem to be doing well. I'm talking about financial robustness - lots of tenants, proportionally few vacant sites, good rents, a decent amount of continuity (in relative terms, this is High St retail after all). Like it or loathe it The Arndale and Market Street seem commercially strong.

Personally, I'd rather shop along King St or in the Northern Quarter, dependent on how my mood and budget finds me, but it's no good to me if the areas and shops I enjoy are struggling and financially precarious.

Cheers

Thom

[flange]

£1m revamp for bakeries

Chris Barry

18/ 2/2008

PRIVATELY-owned Lyndale Foods is overhauling its 100-strong chain of Hampsons bakery shops in a £1m rebranding exercise.

The £100m-turnover company, which has its head office in Sale, will unveil the new look tomorrow when the Hampsons shop in Leigh reopens under the name of its long-standing retail brand, Sayers.

Lyndale managing director Michael Quinlan said the name change and refit would take around two years to complete as it is rolled out across Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire.

He said today: "The exercise is all about giving our customers a new experience. We have done a lot of research in the last couple of years and we believe we have now got a brand which reflects the heritage of the business."

The investment comes at a challenging time for food producers, who are having to cope with the soaring cost of wheat, as well as higher energy bills.

Lyndale has three bakeries in the region - two in Bolton and a third in Liverpool.

Mr Quinlan said: "There's a lot of food inflation around at the moment. As we are a big flour user, clearly there has been a lot of added cost as a result. It is having quite a major impact on us at the moment."

Sayers is the biggest independent retail baker in the north west with around 200 shops. It was established in 1912 and employs more than 2,000 people.

Sundays

In response to customers' demands, the shops will open on Sundays for the first time.

Mr Quinlan, said a number of new products would be introduced to the stores too.

"Over the coming weeks, customers will see a number of new products and ranges being introduced, including a selection of continental breads freshly baked in the shop every day, as well as an exciting and varied choice of quality cakes."

He said the company was also already offering healthy alternatives to pastries and cakes, with salads, fruit salads and fruit juices on sale.

Sayers was originally founded in Liverpool. It was a family business until 1979 when it was sold to United Biscuits, before being purchased by Warburtons in 1990.

The company was bought by Lyndale in 1996.

As well as Sayers, Lyndale owns a trade business, Peter Hunt's Bakery, which makes pies, sausage rolls, pasties and other savoury bakery products for the retail and foodservice sectors.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....p_for_bakeries

[jrb]

Latics set to pitch for weddings
Asian families spend at least £10,000 on catering alone, say organisers
By Lyndon Driver


With a Bangladeshi community numbering more than 30,000, Oldham is the perfect place to run a venue capable of meeting the exacting requirements of the organisers of Asian weddings.

But for some time, one venue has cornered the market. The Queen Elizabeth (QE) Hall is dominant partly because of its sheer size.

The QE Hall's main suite has a capacity of 500 in wedding layout. The cost of a hire is £1,427 for a minimum of four hours on a Saturday, £1,538 on Sunday and £1,111 during the week.

Now, however, Oldham Athletic Football Club's soon to be redeveloped Boundary Park ground is planning to provide some competition.

Following a successful outcome to a planning battle with Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, the club is pushing ahead with plans to provide modern conferencing facilities and accommodation.

Suite competition


A 500-seated (1,000 standing) suite is set to be completed by the beginning of the 2009 season, and this will be complemented by a 120-bed hotel, for which the club is already in discussions with a number of four-star hotel franchises.

It may be too early to say, but the Latics' new facility is sure to undercut the QE Hall's current top-end prices. Whereas the hall requires contracted caterers to be brought to the venue, the new Oldham Athletic development will have salaried staff on site, and that may enable them to offer more competitive rates.

Alan Hardy, chief executive of Oldham Athletic, said: “Oldham has a large Asian community that currently isn't catered for adequately in terms of wedding facilities. The QE Hall is very expensive, and we are aiming to offer excellent new facilities at very competitive prices.”

Ibrar Ahmed is a director of Zinc Occasions, a provider of bespoke wedding services to Manchester's Asian community. Ahmed said that status relating to wedding spend was important in the Asian community. “If one person sees his neighbour or a business associate spend a certain amount, there is competition to spend more,” he said.

In line with the spending, the number of weddings seems to be increasing. The company typically receives six wedding enquiries a week, compared to two or three when it was established a year ago. “Clients are rapidly increasing spend on wedding ceremonies,” he said. “Until recently, you would find disposable cutlery at an event, but now customers are spending large amounts on impressive catering. Even clients looking for budget catering are prepared to spend around £10,000 on dining alone.”

BIgger budgets



At the moment, as Oldham only has one venue that can offer large-scale facilities for clients with a big budget, locals are forced to look outside the town to Manchester venues such as the Sheridan Suite at Sheridan 1838, on Oldham Road near Manchester city centre, and the Lowry Centre in Salford.

New entrants to the market in and around the city are looking to take advantage of this. The Nawaab in Levenshulme has recently expanded to include two banqueting and wedding facilities, providing seating for 500 customers.

Owner Mehboob Hussain said that his restaurant was catering for “three or four” weddings a week across its three function rooms.

The biggest room can hold up to 1,500 people, and he said that wedding trade had picked up year on year in the six years he had owned the restaurant.

“We generally charge £10 per head and give the room free, but some people like to spend anywhere up to £25 per head. It all depends on people's needs and tastes,” he said. If customers want to bring their own food or drink, Hussain will rent the room on its own, for £1,000-1,500. “We're flexible,” he said.

[jrb]

Manchester and Michelin stars can't afford each other
Failures and high costs deter investors
By Lyndon Driver


More than 150 restaurants throughout the UK boast at least one prestigious Michelin star for fine dining. The only one to be found in Greater Manchester, however, is Juniper in Altrincham — and following the announced departure of Paul Kitching, the chef whose work helped it win the coveted award, it remains to be seen whether the star will disappear with him.

But why is there no Michelin star anywhere in the city centre? Radio presenter and stalwart northerner Stuart Maconi tells us in his book, Pies and Prejudice, that northern folk have simple tastes when it comes to food. Yet Birmingham has two one-star eateries. Does this mean that the tastes of Birmingham residents are twice as sophisticated as those of Mancunians? Hardly.



High rents



The reason for the lack of Michelin-star dining is founded more on economics than tastes. Simon Rimmer, the celebrity chef best known as a resident cook on BBC2's Something for the Weekend, and who also owns vegetarian restaurant Greens in Didsbury, south Manchester, last year investigated the viability of opening a restaurant in Manchester's city centre.

“I looked at taking over the lease of the children's toy store Daisy & Tom on Deansgate but soon discovered that the rent on the premises was over £200,000 per annum,” he said. “That really precludes chefs such as myself, who want to offer individual, high-quality restaurants, from entering the market.” If we look at the culinary constitution of Manchester's city centre, we can see plenty of fast-food chains and mid-market branded outlets such as All Bar One and Cafe Rouge.

But the upper end does not extend much beyond the “premium/casual dining” on offer from Room, Piccolino's and Restaurant Bar & Grill.

The latter two are owned by Individual Restaurant Company, which doesn't like to think of itself as a chain and has made some inroads towards offering high-quality cuisine, but does not have Michelin stars as a business objective.

Little success


There have been attempts to revolutionise fine dining in Manchester, but they have often come to grief. Le Mont in Urbis closed its doors last year after just five years in business. At the close, the owners said that the restaurant had “enjoyed great critical success since it opened ... sadly that enthusiasm has never been translated into the numbers of people dining there.”

Establishment, the top-priced venue at the top of King Street, shut down at the beginning of 2007, less than three years after launch. It was recently replaced by upmarket, alcohol-free curry restaurant Karim's. Lounge Ten, on Tib Lane, and Le Petit Blanc, on Chapel Walk, have proved consistent for quality and popularity and have lasted, but they are certainly in the minority and come with a premium price tag.



Bravery, ambition



So is there any chance of Manchester ever getting the higher quality of dining it hungers for? Professional food writer and critic Andy Hayler said: “Unfortunately for Manchester, chefs tend to open top restaurants in areas where they know they will get customers, and at the moment Manchester can't provide that. It will require a chef with bravery and ambition to succeed in the centre of Manchester, and once that happens, others will follow suit.”

Bravery and ambition may get you only so far in the restaurant business, but economics are more important. Unless the business makes money, it will fold. And at the moment it would appear that Manchester can't afford top-quality dining, and top-quality dining can't afford Manchester.