Can Ikea spark a UK shopping centre revival?
Following its £170m acquisition of the Kings Mall in London’s Hammersmith, Ikea is on a mission to rejuvenate UK retail. But what does this mean for the wider shopping centre sector?
Pity the secondary-location shopping mall. While UK retailers – and shoppers – flock to the busy Bluewaters, Lakesides and Meadowhalls of the UK, there is a distinctly neglected tier of shopping centres in the retail hinterland beneath.
However, not everybody is ignoring these lumbering dinosaurs of shopping venues. One international retail giant has spotted that the UK’s secondary shopping centres are under-priced, as well as underused.
Furnishings giant Ikea has bought a shopping centre in Hammersmith, London, surprising property insiders with an off-market deal to grab a property that wasn’t openly on the market.
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