Since opening in May 2009, Gloucester Quays has gone from strength-to-strength as an experience-led retail and leisure destination. The destination now attracts seven million visitors each year and continues to see a growth in sales with a 10% increase in 2018/19.
Following a ten-year regeneration and investment programme, the development of Gloucester Quays has seen the waterfront transformed with the introduction of premium outlet shopping brands, a new cinema, bars, cafes, restaurants plus the introduction of award-winning events and entertainment.
Lifestyle Outlets is proud to have created 3,500 jobs in the city which has brought the Historic Docks back to life. Gloucester Quays is now a major destination for shoppers, families and tourists from across the South West.
Gloucester Quays opened with 30 stores in May 2009 and defied the recession to expand into one of the UK’s most successful retail outlet centres. A decade on, with the UK’s retail market enduring a period of sustained decline, it continues to defy the national trend with 316,000 sq ft of outlet space occupied by tenants including Hugo Boss, Adidas, Wagamama, Jack Wills, Ted Baker, All Saints and Joules.
Annual footfall has increased from 1.5 million on opening to 7 million as Lifestyle Outlets unique mix of retail, leisure and events have established Gloucester Quays as a visitor destination whilst at the same time serving the needs of the local residents, students and office workers.
Jason Pullen, Managing Director, Lifestyle Outlets, said: “Gloucester Quays is thriving. People are looking to make shopping part of a full day out – and this is why we focus on providing a unique mix of outlet retail, restaurants, leisure and entertainment at our sites. Lifestyle Outlets offer the next stage in the evolution of the outlet experience as people want to spend time in places that feel authentic with a mixture of activities and up to 70% off great brands”.
Gloucester Quays is one of the largest placemaking developments in the UK, thanks to a wider regeneration of the 60-acre site with Lifestyle Outlets facilitating the development of a new Sainsbury’s superstore, hotels, residential schemes delivering 500 new homes, commercial space and a dedicated events square – with private sector investment in excess of £300 million.
The commercial and social benefits for the local community were further bolstered by the provision of a new campus for Gloucestershire College. More recently, opposite the outlet centre, Peel L&P has developed a popular retail park and delivered a 30,000 sq ft flagship Next store.
Pullen adds: “The development at Gloucester Quays has complemented the wider regeneration work of Peel L&P over the past ten years. The transformation of the 60-acre Quays site has been one of the UK’s most ambitious placemaking developments to date, creating jobs, new homes, leisure and entertainment options, and a destination the city is rightly proud of.”
