Manchester city centre ranked top for retail and leisure for third year

Manchester has shown resilience in the face of nationwide store closures during the pandemic, retaining the largest range of retail and leisure offering across the UK, in one shoppable location, according to Colliers’ inaugural LocateVenues retail rankings report, which monitors the retail and leisure offering at commercial venues across the UK,

Glasgow centre came in second overall, with Leeds centre in third place, Birmingham centre fourth and Liverpool centre in fifth.

The report looks at metrics including venue type, brand presence and strength, vacancy and refurbishment rates, floorspace availability, price positioning (value vs luxury) and category mix.

The 9,000 venues in the research, which are defined as individual destinations, range from major city centres; local town and neighbourhood shopping streets; malls; designer outlets; retail and leisure parks; to standalone grocery stores, service stations; retail in rail stations, hospitals and business parks.

David Fox, co-head of Retail at Colliers, said of the survey: “The diversity of retail and leisure offering in Manchester is what has allowed the city to maintain its top ranking. The findings of LocateVenue show that to thrive, destinations need to provide a genuine mix of brands and services, a large proportion of independents and an offering that is matched to the needs of the catchment area.

“Gone are the days when high streets or retail parks could rely on the provision of chains and anchor stores, real thought needs to be given to the occupier mix, with much of the decision making centred around a deep understanding of the local population."

The data also revealed that based on occupier presence, the biggest growth took place for retail parks. This retail asset type saw the average metrics score increase by 23% when compared to 2019, driven by their ability to provide a more socially distanced shopping experience.

Alongside this, retail parks often benefit from a dense catchment area, providing occupiers with attractive investment opportunities for expansion.

Out of town malls saw a dip in their scores by 4%, having been impacted particularly hard by the closure of anchor stores.

Paul Matthews, co-head of retail strategy and analytics at Colliers, said: "The shift to local shopping is also demonstrated in the change in occupier presence by venue type. Using LocateVenue’s proprietary weighted scoring mechanism based on occupier presence, the biggest growth took place for retail parks.

“The growth of some local shopping venues is likely driven by a desire or requirement for convenience during lockdown. This was compounded by the need for more diverse, sustainable real estate. However, it’ll take a few years to establish how permanent the shift is as life without restrictions becomes the norm.”