Click on the link below to get the latest bulletin update on Birmingham’s City Centre Interchange works. For more information visit www.connectedcity.org.uk/

City Centre Interchange Bulletin 12-01-29

Click the link below to download the winter 2012 Birmingham Gateway Update  - find out the latest news and developments around the forthcoming new New Street station. For more infomation visit newstreetnewstart.co.uk

Birmingham Gateway update Winter 2012

Network Rail and Birmingham City Council has appointed retail consultants to commence the leasing of The Pallasades shopping centre, which is being significantly upgraded and remodelled as part of the major redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station.

The multimillion pound redevelopment will see a new 250,000 sq ft John Lewis store open at the site in autumn 2014, and the current shopping centre situated above New Street Station is set to undergo a major upgrade and remodelling initiative.

Real estate firm Keystone Retail Property has been hired to find occupiers for the reconfigured shopping centre, which will consist of 150,000 sq ft of retail space.

Construction work has started on the redevelopment of New Street station and surrounding shopping area, which along with Network Rail is backed by Birmingham City Council, the Department for Transport, Centro and Advantage West Midlands.

Set up in 2007 by the city’s retailers, the positive vote of 74% in favour will allow the not-for-profit limited company to continue to support and promote its members at a pivotal time for retail and transport development in the city.

Commenting on Retail Birmingham’s positive BID2 Renewal Ballot result, Jonathan Cheetham, Chair of Retail Birmingham and General Manager at The Pallasades shopping centre said:

“This is a fantastic result and a real milestone in affirming the good work that has already been delivered by Retail Birmingham, as well as securing the future of the city’s robust retail offering.

“Since its inception, Retail Birmingham has worked tirelessly to serve the retail community through promoting, enhancing and developing the shopping, living and leisure experience in the city centre. We have delivered promotional campaigns and established major retail events such as Style Birmingham LIVE and Celebration of Independents that have brought thousands of visitors into the city centre, worked behind the scenes for the benefit of our members, helped to keep our streets clean and safe through the delivery of a Street Warden service, as well as working with Birmingham City Council to help create a walkable, world-class and connected city centre.

“We’re delighted to have the opportunity to carry this work through into the next five years for the good of the city centre retail economy.”

Over the next five years Birmingham will see unprecedented levels of investment with the redevelopment of New Street Station and extension of the Midlands Metro system to name only a few. Retail Birmingham has already carried out significant work to give the city centre’s retailers a voice during this time and, with BID2 now secured, will continue to ensure that it is ‘business as usual’ for its members during this time.

From April 2011 when the new term begins, Retail Birmingham believes that ‘promoting’ the Retail BID area will be key in continuing to build the Style Birmingham consumer brand to attract visitors into the city centre, as well as offering local marketing solutions for its members, creating top-quality national marketing campaigns for Birmingham and building on promotion of the city centre’s unique independent offering.

The organisation also pledges to ‘enhance’ the Retail BID area by delivering high-quality events such as Style Birmingham LIVE to animate the Retail BID, continuing to develop the Street Warden service and keep business crime and perceptions of crime low and acting quickly to promote confidence. Retail Birmingham will also continue to tackle street nuisances to enhance visitors’ emotional experience when in the city. By reducing the number of  ‘human signs’ and charity data collectors the organisation hopes to improve the experience on the streets and keep Birmingham in its place as one of the top shopping destinations in  the UK.

Finally, Retail Birmingham will continue to focus on ‘developing’ the Retail BID area to ensure the city centre remains open during the many construction works and offering rapid and personal levels of support to its members at this crucial time.

All Day Parking at Pallasades Car Park for £5.00 per day and all day parking at Albert Street Car Park for £4.00 per day

• Drive into the car park and take a ticket at the barrier
• Collect a Follow-On-Ticket from reception before you leave
• Insert your original ticket into the car park pay machine. When the price is displayed, insert the Follow-On-Ticket to apply your discount
• Pay the reduced price now shown. Take the validated ticket back to your car
• Use this ticket to exit the car park

National Express Offer

Thomson will sell “uniquely designed holidays” while First Choice will focus solely on all-inclusive package holidays.
The rebrand is being spearheaded by TUI retail director Kathryn Ward and distribution director Nick Longman.
Commenting on the move Longman said: “We have two major, distinctive brands, and have a strong presence across the country.  We want to make the biggest, clearest impact we can, for our customers.

“There is certainly room for both brands, and customers will benefit from the breadth and clarity of what we have to offer. To ensure we remain market leaders on the high street we need to give our customers unrivalled accessibility to the best choice of our wide range of products. That’s why we are bringing both our market leading brands to all of the towns we operate in.”

The store revamps will begin in the South West region with nationwide completion expected by October 2013.

Working with prepaid services company PrePay Solutions, the department store chain has launched the House of Fraser Recognition Reward Card which allows customers to check their balance, make purchases and sign up to monthly emails carrying news of special offers and events. Customers collect points on their card can redeem in-store or on the retailer’s website.

Commenting on the new scheme Maureen Dunlop, House of Fraser head of customer relationship management, said: “It’s our goal to treat every customer like a VIP so we’re delighted to be able to reward our customers through the House of Fraser Recognition Reward Card. ”We’re very pleased with the level of uptake, which shows that our customers see the benefit of the card, as well as enabling us to get much greater customer insight.”

The three day fashion, beauty and shopping extravaganza which took place 23-25 September 2011 has now come to an end. Over 100 retailers and brands were involved with the event showcasing their key looks for autumn/winter 2011 on the catwalk and in-store.

Birmingham city centre footfall increased by over 30,000 over the three days and many retailers saw an increase in trade.

For more of the highlights go to http://www.stylebirmingham.com/uncategorized/sbl-catwalk-highlights/

Earlier this week, at our Annual General Meeting we launched our Retail Birmingham Annual Review 2010-11, highlighting some of our key achievements over the last year.

To download the review please click below:

Retail Birmingham Annual Report 2011

Retail sales in the 13 week period to 25 July  increased 0.8% year on year to £368 million while retail gross profit decreased 6.6% to £156 million.  Sports Direct said the results were set  against tough comparatives in the same period last year when sales were boosted by the World Cup.

The Brands division revenue decreased by 2.3% to £42 million  and the corresponding gross profit was flat at £18 million. Sports Direct said it opened nine stores  and closed four during the period, two of which were core relocations.  It also opened three and closed four non-core stores. Its European retail arm opened one new store in France, two in the Netherlands and one in Cyprus.

Dave Forsey, chief executive of Sports Direct International, said: “The group’s underlying performance in the period has been in line with management expectations, while continuing to invest in margin, inventory and extra group marketing.”

The company will hold its AGM this afternoon when shareholders will vote on whether to purchase 32 properties from board member Mike Ashley at a cost of £86.8 million.