This year East Midlands Designer Outlet, just off the M1, near Alfreton, celebrates its 25th anniversary, with new store brands planned. Paul Sutton joined as centre manager last year following 10 years at the Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet as its deputy centre manager. He was also previously general manager of House of Fraser in Birmingham.
Here he tells BusinessLive about the latest centre news, new brand partners, shopping trends and how the centre is dealing with the current cost-of-living crisis.
Q) Tell me about East Midlands Designer Outlet?
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A) We currently have 160,000 sq ft of retail space which includes 62 premium high-street brands and 11 food & beverage operators. This will increase to over 164,000 sq ft once Nike open their new concept store this autumn and Adidas relocate to their upsized unit in summer 2024.
The centre opened in October 1998, making this an historic year as we celebrate our 25 th anniversary in autumn. The land on which the centre stands was a mining colliery dating back to 1893. Sadly, a number of miners lost their lives in 1937, something that we have paid tribute to at the centre with a commemorative information point.
Q) Tell me about your job?
A) My role as centre manager is first and foremost to ensure all of our guests have a memorable visit and that we surprise and delight them through excellent guest service.
Creating pause points on the mall and key promotional dates within our calendar such as late night shopping events, sales and the Christmas launch of Santa’s Grotto ensures we keep our appeal as a destination day out for families.
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I also work very closely with our head office leasing team to ensure we are looking at new brand opportunities to deliver a premium customer experience. In the last 12 months we have welcomed a number of new brands and shop refits including Carvela, The Perfume Shop, Skopes, Yankee Candle, Tommy Hilfiger and Radley.
We have 14 McArthurGlen management team members here in East Midlands, over 1,000 staff employed within the brands and circa 35 across our service partners. We are one of the top employers in the region and many of our staff have been with us for over 10 years.
Q) How would you describe the trading environment?
A) It remains strong as we enter the summer trading period. We have seen good growth versus 2022 which was a record-breaking year for the centre with categories such as sportswear and F&B driving strong turnover.
There are no empty units in the centre as we look forward to welcoming several new brands in autumn, as well as the launch of the new Nike Unite store.
Q) How many customers do you have?
A) Footfall continues to grow with more than 1.6 million guests welcomed to the centre in the first 6 months of this year, with average spend increasing by 3.5 per cent.
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Whilst people are clearly impacted by the cost-of-living challenges the country is facing we maintain our value proposition with up to 60 per cent off the RRP across the centre.
We also hold specific events throughout the year which offer further discounts, including late night shopping events, sale periods and family and friend events.
We also recently launched the MG Club Card where members have exclusive access to further offers and promotions throughout the year.
Q) How has trade been this summer and what are you expecting for Christmas 2023?
A) The early signs for summer are very encouraging with a footfall growth of 5.3 per cent, our best this year.
We are excited about the important Christmas period with the launch of the new Nike store and the start of our 25th anniversary celebrations.
Our popular Santa’s Grotto as will launch in November as usual, with all proceeds donated to our local charity, South Normanton Community group.
We will also be welcoming a number of new premium brands to the centre to help support our gifting focus through the Christmas period, delivering value at a crucial time to our guests.
Q) Tell me about the McArthurGlen Group?
A) McArthurGlen Group, Europe’s leading owner, developer and manager of designer outlets, was founded in Europe by the Kaempfer Partners in 1993. The pioneer of designer outlet retailing in Europe, McArthurGlen has since developed 685,000 sq m of retail space.
The company currently manages designer outlets in eight countries: Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the 海角视频 delivering total portfolio revenues of over 5 billion euros a year.