centre:mk announces more openings and Skechers signing

centre:mk, jointly owned by Hermes Investment Management, the £36 billion investment manager, and AustralianSuper, continues to grow with a series of new openings. The latest include Typo, Trailfinders, Lovisa and Morano’s, whilst Skechers has also signed for a unit.  

Coming off the back of annual footfall growth of 3.4%*, the latest retailers have collectively taken 9,276 sq ft of space at centre:mk:

·      Global footwear brand, Skechers, has signed for a 2,800 sq ft unit at 
669 Midsummer Arcade to showcase the retailer’s two distinct footwear categories; lifestyle and performance footwear. Opening at the end of summer, there will be a selection of styles for women, men, and children. 

·      Typo, the major gifting, and stationery brand has opened its 2,102 sq ft unit at 91 Silbury Arcade. Founded in Australia a decade ago, Typo is one of the fastest-growing lifestyle brands with over 250 stores in 14 countries. Designed by an in-house team, the store’s interior is quirky and vintage, mirroring the brand’s personality and strong graphic design style. 

·      Trailfinders, the UK’s number one tour operator, opened their 2,045 sq ft store at 19 Eagle Walk. Experts in tailor-made itineraries for over 15 million clients, Trailfinders joins centre:mk’s growing travel retail line-up, following Virgin Holidays’ half-million-pound flagship v-room opening in November. 

·       Fashion-forwardjewellery and accessory brand, Lovisa, has opened its 517 sq ft unit next to Skechers at 671 Midsummer Arcade. Lovisa offers on-trend fashion jewellery at affordable prices with 150 new styles being delivered to the store each week.

·      Located next to Trailfinders is Morano’sChurreria y Chocolateria, the brand opened their debut 1,812 sq ft café at 21 Eagle Walk, offering fresh and authentic churros and Spanish coffee.

Ed Sellick, Asset Manager, Hermes Investment Management, on behalf of centre:mk joint owners, commented: “These latest deals reflect not only centre:mk’s regional dominance but also its status as a top 10 national shopping and leisure destination. Our approach and resulting investment strategy continues to appeal to leading brands and is reflected in the latest deals announced today. We are confident that as we continue to build on centre:mk’s robust performance we will be announcing more new names in the coming months.”

Sally Howard, Brand Manager for Typo UK added: “Over the last few years we have been focused on expanding our UK footprint and we are thrilled to be working with centre:mk to continue this journey, whilst offering visitors our broad range of one-of-a-kind products.” 

The news follows the recent completion of centre:mk’s £50m customer-focused investment strategy delivering award-winning state of the art Guest Service Facilities, a fully integrated digital infrastructure, and a new technologically advanced multi-storey car park.

ENDS

*3.4% from April 2018 to March 2019

For further information, please contact Aver:

·      Amanda McNally on 07495 461573, or via amandamcnally@averpr.com

·      Yasemin Kiani on 07932 036085, or via yaseminkiani@averpr.com

Notes to Editors:

About Hermes Investment Management

Hermes Investment Management, a Federated Investors company, provides world-class active investment management and stewardship services. Hermes, headquartered in London, manages £36 billion in assets and offers a broad range of specialist, high-conviction investment strategies spanning listed equities, credit, real estate, infrastructure, private debt and private equity. Hermes’ strategies focus not just on financial results, but also on delivering outcomes beyond performance: holistic returns that consider impacts to society, the environment and the wider world. In Hermes EOS, the company offers one of the industry’s leading engagement resources, representing £501 billion of assets*. For more information, visit www.hermes-investment.com.

* Please note the total AUM figure includes £6.6bn of assets managed or under an advisory agreement by Hermes GPE LLP (“HGPE”), a joint venture between Hermes Fund Managers Limited ("HFM") and GPE Partner Limited. HGPE is an independent entity and not part of the Hermes group. £23.6m of total group AUM figure represents HFM mandates under advice. Source: Hermes as at 30 June 2019

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About AustralianSuper

AustralianSuper manages more than AUD$140 billion of members’ assets on behalf of more than two million members from across 280,000 businesses. One in 10 working Australians is a member of AustralianSuper, the nation’s largest industry super fund.

About Trailfinders

Trailfinders win all the major travel awards for being the best of the best. Ranked the No.1 Travel Company in the UK with a rating of 9.9 out of 10 on Trust Pilot, they have also been voted the UK’s most trusted travel brand by readers of the Guardian and Best Tour Operator for six consecutive years by readers of The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, so you can be confident that your travel plans are in the safest of hands.