A raft of emerging development plots and new leasing activity along Argyle Street is seeing Glasgow’s long recognised golden retail ‘Z’ – the shape of the city’s pedestrianised Buchanan Street linking to Argyle Street and Sauchiehall Street – change direction.
With the majority of cranes in the city seen along the River Clyde towards Merchant City, and the ongoing transformation at St Enoch Centre, the evidence is clear to see.
Most recently, Argyle Street has seen significant activity with Deichmann securing the former Next store at number 70-76 and Tessuti moving under offer for a new 13,000 sq ft flagship store. Meanwhile H&M, Superdry and HMV have all renewed leases. Rents on the street now typically stand at £80 per sq ft, compared with £250 per sq ft on Buchanan Street, and with a sharp reduction in the vacancy rate on Buchanan Street to 6 per cent so far this year, the predicted beneficiary – as retailers stretch their search area – is Argyle Street.
St Enoch Centre is a major driver of this change. For the first time, Glasgow has a proper entertainment hub in the city centre, with VUE, Level X and Boom Battle Bar transforming the city’s largest mall. Reimagined as a mixed-use hub after years of physical improvements, the centre is once again relevant, with 13 per cent of total floorspace now allocated to leisure and entertainment operators, a dramatic increase from 1 per cent of the total floorspace prior to redevelopment.
It is this hybrid use of space that combines retail with a mix of food, beverage and leisure uses that is key to the success of any retail revival – gone are the days of large single function ‘shopping centres’ being able to drive footfall to the levels required to make them economically viable. Next in line are plans for the former Debenhams store on Argyle Street, with planning permission granted for an office-led development, and a large block adjacent to the St Enoch Centre entrance primed for redevelopment into three large retail units.
Activity is symptomatic of what is going on elsewhere in the city with Glasgow seeing a strong return of confidence in the first nine months 2022 with 50 (250,000 sq ft) retail, F&B and leisure leasing transactions completing, representing one of the busiest periods on record. The volume of deals is in part due to opportunities that arose as a result of Covid-19 which in turn created more availability on Buchanan Street and the neighbouring thoroughfares.
Activity demonstrates Glasgow’s resilience to reinvent itself. Now we need to come together – private and public sectors – to ensure other parts of the city centre can be brought forward.
Sauchiehall Street calls for its own revival. It presents a huge development opportunity, representing a prime inner city pitch that is well connected, but some of the brands and temporary retailers that are dominating the streetscape today are not fit to meet the demands of what we need from our city centre.
Nor will recovery be retail-led. It needs some major master-planning with an integrated residential and mixed-use vision. It also requires changes to planning policy. City-wide we need cleaner, greener streets if Glasgow is to hold onto its appeal to visitors. However, just as St Enoch triggered the transformation of Argyle Street, we can hope the repurposing of Buchanan Galleries could bring the same good fortune in the medium term to Sauchiehall Street as Glasgow continues to evolve.
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