Tuesday 24 Sep 2013
Network Rail retail sales continue to outperform the market
- Region & Route:
- National
Network Rail today released station retail sales results showing a 6.4% growth in like-for-like sales from April to June 2013. In the same period high street sales, reported by the British Retail Consortium, increased by 0.4%, meaning retail sales in stations continue to outperform the high street.
These figures were compiled from the results of retailers operating from over 500,000 sq ft of retail space (520 units/shops) at 16 of Britain’s biggest and busiest stations owned and operated by Network Rail, benefiting from a combined annual footfall of over a billion.
Top performing stations include King’s Cross (+38.2%), followed by Cannon Street (+32.3%), London Bridge (13.6%), Euston (+7.7%) and Edinburgh Waverley (+7.5%) compared to the same period last year.
Trading at both King’s Cross and Waterloo benefited from major investment schemes enabling new retail facilities to be added to the station environment, offering customers a wider choice of food and beverage, and retail brands. During this period retail sales also benefited from better weather, and Easter falling in the previous quarter, compared to the same period the previous year, enabling Network Rail to post the best retail results recorded since 2009.
Dining brands performed best in stations this period (+16.7%). Other top performing categories were Specialist Food (+14.7%), Pubs & Bars (+12.2%), Cards & Stationery (+11.8%) and Supermarkets (+10.1%).
This current set of figures show strong growth since the (+1.79%) increase reported last period (December to March 2013). High performing brands include Prêt A Manger, Costa, M&S Simply Food, Paperchase, Leon and Giraffe.
Jonathan Crick, director of retail at Network Rail, said: “While growth on the high street remains relatively flat, retail in stations continues to grow dramatically. This set of retail results shows how the change in retail strategy combined with investment in new retail space has enhanced the whole station environment, contributing to a strong retail performance even in like-for-like comparisons. Even more so for overall sales. Stations offer a vibrant and healthy trading environment and we are continuing to attract new brands to enhance the breadth of retail offered to passengers.”
All profit from Network Rail’s retail activity is re-invested in the railway, limiting the cost to tax payers and passengers.
Notes to editors
Network Rail owns and manages 16 of Britain’s biggest and busiest stations:
National stations
- Birmingham New Street
- Edinburgh Waverley
- Glasgow Central
- Leeds
- Liverpool Lime Street
- Manchester Piccadilly
London stations
- Cannon Street
- Charing Cross
- Euston
- Fenchurch Street
- King’s Cross
- Liverpool Street
- London Bridge
- Paddington
- Victoria
- Waterloo
Network Rail:
- Is the 'not for dividend' owner and operator of Britain's railway infrastructure, which includes the tracks, signals, tunnels, bridges, viaducts, level crossings and stations - the largest of which we also manage We aim to provide a safe, reliable and efficient rail infrastructure for freight and passenger trains to use Our website: www.networkrail.co.uk
- Is one of the largest land and property owners in the country and will generate over £1bn in a five year period from commercial activities for re-investment in our rail estate. This would be enough to transform Birmingham New Street or King’s Cross stations, or put in place 5,000km of new railway.
- Has over 500,000 sq ft retail space at 16 of the largest stations across the country – that’s more retail space than Bluewater – showcasing many leading high-street brands.
- Is also the country's largest provider of commercial property to small and medium sized businesses with over 7,000 properties nationwide.
- In addition, works in partnership on existing development projects, including multi-million pound commercial schemes above our station at Birmingham New Street and our first multi-site joint venture: Solum Regeneration.
Contact information
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About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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