The food and beverage sector has faced challenges in recent years due to the effects of Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis. However, indications so far, are that 2024 will bring opportunities for businesses in the sector, especially when it comes to finding the right property.
With the risk of recession seemingly behind us, it is anticipated that consumers will be able to enjoy increased spending power. This has implications for food and beverage retailers. One of the main items which people spend their spare cash on is eating out (Source), meaning that increased spending power is likely to be reflected by increased profits in the sector.
In particular, retailers should consider targeting shopping centres where footfall began to recover in November according to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) Sensormatic IQ Data.
Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “A slight uptick in consumer confidence, as well as easing inflationary pressures and more predictable weather, led to an improvement in footfall.”
As the operator of some of the UK’s most popular and successful shopping centres, we are well placed to observe the impact food and beverage retailers can have in these spaces.
What’s more, we can see that retailers in this sector benefit from sticking together and forming clusters which consumers know they can visit and get whatever they want, no matter what they are in the mood for.
The Brunel Shopping Centre in Swindon is the perfect example of this in action. It is home to a range of food and beverage retailers including Subway, Chopstix, Greggs, The Bap, Asaga Noodles, McDonalds and Costa.
In the last year, more than 5,500,000 people visited The Brunel. Each week, tens of thousands of people visit of the food and beverage retailers according to the latest footfall figures from December 2023. This is an established food and drink hub in Swindon which offers businesses everything they need – great placement, high footfall and a proven consumer base.
Commercial space for food businesses also comes at a premium in other shopping centres operated by FIREM.
We also offer retail space to rent at North Point Shopping Centre in Hull which has an annual footfall of more than 4,580,000. An average week will see almost 100,000 people head to North Point for their shopping, making it another great opportunity for food and beverage retailers to join the growing cluster here and make the most of an established destination.
If you are an rising operator, with a start-up food business, looking for a seemingly smaller venue St. Peter’s Way shopping centre in Derby delivers a much bigger impact than other comparable centres. Footfall has increased by 12.1% in the last year to more than 1,356,000, and it offers even more.
The centre is connected to the Regional Derbion shopping centre (formerly Intu Derby) which attracts more than 20 million people each year. Food and beverage retailers looking to rent space in a shopping centre can benefit from two customer bases for the price of one by joining the range of retailers already operating successfully at St. Peter’s Way shopping centre.
Shopping centres have an unbeatable combination of footfall, facilities and space which makes them a prime opportunity for food and beverage retailers in 2024. FIREM’s shopping centres are proof that food and beverage retailers can enjoy huge benefits by choosing a shopping centre site, and you could be the next business to join the other success stories that are already in place.
Want to learn more about our shopping centre food and drink retail units to rent? Click here and get in touch with the team today for more information.
