THE MALL’S MAJOR NEW £66m DEVELOPMENT ATTRACTS NEW STORES TO BLACKBURN

The Mall – the UK’s leading community shopping centre brand – has unveiled a significant redevelopment plan for its Blackburn centre costing over £66m; the new scheme has already attracted major new national retailers to the town and will provide a permanent new home for the town’s local market.

The new scheme, which has been created in close association with Blackburn with Darwen Council, will add over a quarter of a million square feet of additional retail space over three levels and thus extend the existing mall to a new total of 639,000 sq ft.

The new development will also have a spectacular 3 storey glazed atrium and provide extended malls giving access to a total of 20 new shops. As part of the scheme the existing Mall will be extensively refurbished and upgraded to include new Mall toilets, management suite and other distinctive Mall brand touch-points such as Mall TV and ‘Ask Me’ Point.

The 68,000sq.ft lower level will house Blackburn’s all new continental style market (a UK first that will become a unique and attractive feature for the town) with the middle and upper levels being the principal retail areas. Over 200 additional car parking spaces have been added at the top of the new scheme.

In addition, The Mall are delighted to announce that Primark are taking a major new store within the development, and that both New Look and W H Smith have committed to taking significantly larger stores within the newly configured centre. There are other ongoing discussions with a number of retailers not yet represented within Blackburn, and further announcements will be made shortly.

Primark have secured a 50,000 sq ft anchor store over two levels. Primark Director, Breege O'Donoghue commented: “We have been looking for suitable opportunities in Blackburn for some time and due to this development by The Mall we are delighted to now be able to open our first store in the town. We believe that our product range will be extremely popular in Blackburn and expect our new store to be extremely successful.”

WH Smith will relocate from their temporary space to a new 6,030 sq ft site.

To further boost The Mall Blackburn’s growing fashion offer, New Look has agreed to upsize their existing store and take on 18,500 sq ft over two levels. New Look Acquisition Manager Kieran Frost explained, “Our store in Blackburn has traded extremely well for us and so we are very pleased to have secured a larger store and so be able to offer shoppers in Blackburn a much better retail experience.”

Ken Ford, Chief Executive of The Mall comments: “Since we purchased The Mall Blackburn in 2004 we have been working hard, alongside Blackburn with Darwen Council, to create the best possible development for the town. The confidence of these key retailers in either coming to Blackburn for the first time or expanding their representation is hugely positive for the town and will provide a dramatic boost to the shopping experience in Blackburn. I am delighted that we have already pre-let two thirds of the extended mall a full 6 months before we have even started work on site”

“We also appreciate the importance of the Market to our shoppers and are particularly pleased to be able to provide a large base for the council’s innovative, new continental style market concept which will be a vibrant addition to The Mall Blackburn.”

Councillor Colin Rigby, leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council said: “It’s always good news to hear new retailers are coming to a town and this bodes well for Blackburn and the borough as a whole.

“I’m sure traders on Blackburn Market will be delighted they are to get an improved venue that will give them the scope to improve and extend the range of quality goods already on offer.”

Councillor Alan Cottam, executive member for regeneration for Blackburn with Darwen Council added: “this additional square footage of retail floor space confirms our confidence that the two towns of Blackburn and Darwen will complement each other and develop the two shopping centres as the retail centre of East Lancashire.”

The Mall hopes to commence construction in Autumn this year and have the extension open for trading by September 2009.

-ENDS-

For further information regarding The Mall please contact:

Paul Haines/Liz D’Oliveira/Jessie Bigus
Redwood Consulting on 020 7828 5553

Notes to Editor:

About The Mall
The Mall is the leading owner and operator of community shopping centres in the UK. The Mall currently has assets of £3.171 billion in 23 shopping centres, establishing The Mall as the UK’s community shopping centre brand. The Mall Fund is a specialist property fund managed by Capital & Regional and Morley Fund Management.

Shopping as it should be.

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