Fresh demand from out-of-town retail
Mark Rudman, retail agency partner at JLL, says there is an estimated 4.8m sq ft of live retailer requirements for out-of-town retail space in the UK. What’s more, at least half of this space is needed by retailers of bulky goods – which is a complete about-turn for this sector, which had been the most depressed during the recent economic downturn.
Rudman notes that demand for available space in the retail parks market is being driven by new entrants, including Next, John Lewis, TK Maxx, Asda and Argos with their homewares brands, while the electricals sector has been reinvigorated by the arrival of Best Buy.
