UK Shopping Centre Map and Data

They'll love me when I'm gone

Since its the New Year and there doesn't seem to be much news around at the moment the shocking, yet commonly predicted collapse of HMV, Jessops and Blockbuster has made many headlines with the the reason behind their collapse was the move of customers to buying on line. There is little doubt that for products these firms were offering either had moved to digital distribution (music, film) or were brand heavy price sensitive where price transparency was a problem. The Internet was killing the High Street stripping it much loved brands such as Woolworths or HMV where an older generation had fond memories. Soon the High Street with the local baker, butcher and pub would soon to all gone.

Coming to a City or Major Road Junction Near You

However talk is cheap and analysis is hard and boring - numbers, dates and stuff are hard to read through. I argue the main reason why stores are struggling is through a severe lack in demand along with a shift away from shopping in towns but to large shopping centres or retail parks and big box retailers found of a motorway junction from you.

Adult Parks

Retail parks and leisure parks are for the casual shopper; they contain shops that sell things you generally can walk away with (clothes, jewellery, food etc) along with anchor stores that if you wished to buy an oversized TV or fridge can supplier a touch-feely experience. Metrocentre, Trafford Centre , Bluewater or the latest Westfield development where looking good to buy clothes to make you look good is the aim.

Big Boxes

Big box is for the boring stuff (depending on gender) - food, furniture, sofas, carpets and curtains. IKEA, BnQ, Homebase, for the stuff you can't eat. Sainsbury's Tesco, Asda for the stuff you can.

This is all very interesting but where is the proof that Town centres are being migrated? Well I've taken the top 20 shopping centres from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_shopping_centres_in_the_United_Kingdom_by_size) and place them on a map. You will notice that it labels most of the big cities Great Britain (Northern Ireland didn't make it) so to add further detail I've added info about all the town centres to show when they were opened, size, visitors etc. (I don't currently have the numbers for the big box stores)

link - top 20 UK Shopping centres: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=207558842850008730121.0004d44bb2336aad46067

Taking the top 20 and ordering by open time the biggest shopping centres were open to the public from 1990 onwards with the largest European shopping centre Metrocentre just missing out but it has grown significantly since it opened in 1984.

Rank	Name	Town/city and county	Region	Opened	Extension	No of Stores	Anchor Tennants	Floors	Size (m²)	Annual visitors	Website
1st	MetroCentre	Gateshead, Tyne and Wear	North East England	Oct-86		340	6	2	194,400[1]	23 million[2]	http://www.metrocentre-gateshead.co.uk
2nd	Trafford Centre	Trafford, Greater Manchester	North West England	Sep-98		280	6	4	185,100[3]	35 million+ (2010)[4]	http://www.traffordcentre.co.uk/
3rd	Westfield Stratford City	Stratford, London	Greater London	Sep-11		300	3	3	175,000[5]	no data	http://uk.westfield.com/stratfordcity/
4th	Bluewater	Dartford, Kent	South East England	Mar-99		330	3	2	155,700[6]	27 million (2010)[7]	http://www.bluewater.co.uk/
5th	Westfield London	Shepherd's Bush, London	Greater London	Oct-08		270	5	5	149,461[8]	23 million (2009)[9]	http://uk.westfield.com/london/
6th	Westfield Merry Hill	Dudley, West Midlands	West Midlands	Dec-85		309	7	2	140,800[10]	23.5 million[11]	http://www.westfield.com/merryhill/
7th	Meadowhall	Sheffield, South Yorkshire	Yorkshire and the Humber	Sep-90		280	10	2	139,355[12]	25 million[13]	http://meadowhall.co.uk/
8th	Lakeside	Thurrock, Essex	South East England	Oct-90		245	4	3	133,780[14]	25 million[15]	http://www.lakeside.uk.com/
9th	St. David's	Cardiff, Wales	Wales	May-82	Oct-09	203	5	3	130,100[14]	38 million (2011/2012)	http://www.stdavidscardiff.com/
10th=	Liverpool One	Liverpool, Merseyside	North West	May-08		169	2	2	130,060[16]	24.6 million (2010)[17]	http://www.liverpool-one.com/
10th=	Manchester Arndale	Manchester, Greater Manchester	North West England	Jan-75	Jan-03	210	7	3	130,060[18]	41 million (2012)[19]	http://www.manchesterarndale.com/
12th	Bullring	Birmingham, West Midlands	West Midlands	Sep-03		160	2	3	127,100,[20]	40 million (2011)[21]	http://www.bullring.co.uk/
13th	Eldon Square	Newcastle, Tyne and Wear	North East England	Jan-77		150	4	2	125,419[14]	36 million	http://www.eldon-square.co.uk
14th	thecentre:mk	Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire	South East	Sep-79		260	4	1	120,773[22]	27 million (2010)[23]	http://www.thecentremk.com/
15th	Westfield Derby	Derby, Derbyshire	East Midlands	Sep-75	Jan-07	199	6	3	106,130[24]	25 million (2010)[25]	http://uk.westfield.com/derby/
16th	Whitgift	Croydon, London	Greater London	Oct-70	Planning	no data	no data	2	111,000[26]	no data	http://www.thewhitgiftcroydon.co.uk
17th	East Kilbride Shopping Centre	East Kilbride, Lanarkshire	Scotland	no data		no data	no data	no data	106,030[27]	no data	http://www.shopek.co.uk
18th	Highcross	Leicester	East Midlands	Jan-91	Sep-08	135	3	2	105,000[20]	18.5 million (2009–10)[28]	http://www.highcrossleicester.com/
19th	Kingfisher	Redditch, Worcestershire	West Midlands	Jan-76		250	2	3	102,000[29]	no data	http://www.kingfishershopping.com/home
20th	Telford Shopping Centre	Telford, Shropshire	West Midlands	Jan-73		175	6	1	100,000[30]	no data	http://www.telfordshopping.co.uk/

So you changed data into information but its still boring. The key here is for many of these retail parks are based either in cities or in favourable areas to by car - Bluewater being a good example. To support this large stores a lot of people need to go through them and this done with anchor stores - department stores: Selfridges, John Lewis, House of Fraser etc. This removes the demand from the town High Street leaving it to those that can't travel easily who tend to be from a poorer demographic.

Growing Pains - Phoenix Sleeping

Therefore if you are looking to restore the fortunes of your local high street several things have to change that focusses around transport. Market forces and human instinct mean this is unlikely therefore it is highly likely the High Street is going to have to go through a further period of decline before a new shops appear that offer an experience that people want.