Flannels to open 21,000 sq ft store in LiverpoolManchester-based designer chain Flannels has signed a massive 21,000
sq ft store in Liverpool as part of the city’s ongoing retail renaissance.
The store, which will be the anchor tenant of the Met Quarter development
by property company Milligan, is believed to be Flannels largest. It will
trade from three floors.
The 13-strong Flannels group, which includes the Life fascia, also has
planning permission for a restaurant, although one is not included in
its initial plans. Flannels already as one huge store, with a restaurant,
in Leeds (see right). Flannels managing director Neil Prosser was unavailable
for comment.
The retailer stocks a huge raft of labels as varied as Armani and Matthew
Williamson. In Liverpool it will compete at the lower end of its brand
mix with Wade Smith and Open stores. The development will be constructed
behind the existing Edwardian fa?e of the city’s old post office
and will provide around 150,000 sq ft of retail space, divided into around
40 units ranging from 1,000 sq ft to as much as 10,000 sq ft.
John Milligan, chief executive of Milligan, said that focus would be
on fashion and fashion accessories as well as homewares, and more tenants
would be announced later this month. It is likely to target design-led
operators such as Hobbs and Karen Millen. The building is expected to
be ready by Christmas 2005.
Milligan said: ‘We have already done significant research with
people aged between 20 and 40. They hate having to leave Liverpool to
find shops elsewhere. We’ve got high latent demand and retailers
like Ted Baker and Reiss are all doing great business but no development
has allowed them to come together before.’
While the opening of the new development will add to designer retail
competition in Liverpool, Jeff Pearce, owner of mainstream independent
Jeffs of Bond Street, welcomed it. He said: ‘Liverpool is behind
the times compared to cities like Birmingham and Manchester, but it is
catching up fast and furiously, especially as it will be European City
of Culture in 2008. The old post office is a phenomenal building and it
will have a great retail ambience.’
However, Pearce was wary of the effect another development ‘ the
1.2 m sq ft Paradise Park shopping centre ‘ would have on Liverpool
city centre in pulling footfall away from his area of the city. He was
also concerned about how the additional retail space may intensify competition.