7pc sales jump for Merry Hill in 2023
Overall sales at the Merry Hill shopping centre rose by seven per cent over the course of last year.
Sovereign Centros, which manages the shops complex and retail parks, has reported a successful year at Merry Hill, with 65 leasing deals covering more than 330,000 sq t signed in 2023.
The shopping centre has 1.67 million sq ft of lettable space and 217 stores.
December showed a 6.5 per cent year-on-year rise in sales.
There was a 9.4 per cent increase in visitors over the 12 months.
Among the 65 leasing deals, 30 new brands opened at Merry Hill in 2023, representing more than 30 per cent of the units.
Notable additions include Nike Unite, KENJI, and Rituals, which will open this month. The leisure quarter welcomed Hollywood Bowl, Wagamama, ASK Italian, the UK’s first Sides fried chicken restaurant outside of London, and a second Starbucks at Merry Hill.
Set for a 2024 launch are Harvey Norman and XTRAFIT making their UK debut at Merry Hill in the former Debenhams store.
57,000 sq ft of the ground floor will be occupied byAustralian lifestyle, technology and entertainment retailer Harvey Norman, and experience and community driven fitness operator XTRAFIT has taken more than 40,000 sq ft of the first floor.
Graeme Jones, director at Sovereign Centros, said: “2023 was yet another successful year for Merry Hill, one in which we further evolved the experience for our visitors by attracting best-in-class operators across our retail, dining, and leisure portfolio.
“Merry Hill’s strength is exemplified not just in the volume of new leasings, renewals, and regears achieved – having over 30 per cent commit in one year is vindication of the work done in 2023 – but in the quality of the brands we can introduce as the most important regional destination in the West Midlands.
“The results for footfall and sales are telling us this evolved offer is starting to resonate with Merry Hill’s customers, and we will continue to push this ambitious approach for the destination throughout 2024, and beyond.”
Sovereign Centros, which also manages Telford Centre and Weavers Wharf, Kidderminster,, was appointed asset manager at Merry Hill, which attracts 15 million visitors a year, in January 2022
