Station retail continues to shine

Friday 5 Sep 2014

Station retail continues to shine

Region & Route:: National

Figures released today by Network Rail have revealed more evidence of the changing face of modern retail with in-station retail spend once again outperforming the high street average, and growing for the ninth quarter in a row.

Average results show strong increases in retail spending at Network Rail’s 19 managed stations, culminating in a 6.1 per cent gain in the period. This is compared to steady growth figures of 1.1 per cent from the British Retail Consortium which includes many British supermarket and retail brands.

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Hotel Chocolat, Isle of Flowers and The Harry Potter Shop and specialist foods from Wasabi, Nampo, Mi Casa and Patisserie Valerie have led the growth with 26 per cent and 18 per cent respective growth figures. This week, Hema, the popular Dutch discount retailer has opened its first UK store as part of the refurbished Victoria Place Centre in Victoria Station with Frankie & Benny’s, Joy, Ed’s Easy Diner, Café Rouge and The Fresh Pizza Company also rejuvenating the new station retail environment.

Recently redeveloped station King’s Cross continues to steam ahead when it comes to overall spend with a 15.55 per cent increase since Quarter 4 2013/14. Liverpool Lime Street station is close behind with a 14 per cent rise with Cannon Street rounding out the top three at close to 10 per cent growth.

Stations in Scotland also recorded steady growth with Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central stations rising by 5.76 and 4.68 per cent respectively.

Hamish Kiernan, commercial director of retail for Network Rail, said the growth points to the changing habits of the modern customer: "We’re working with our retailers to improve the quality and range of shopping experiences and offerings at our stations. You have to work hard to keep pace with the constant evolution of this sector, and as these results show, we are getting the mix right.

"Stations are now destinations not just to travel but where people want to meet, eat and shop. Importantly as a tax-payer funded organisation, all our profits from our commercial activities are reinvested to deliver a better railway for Britain."

Notes to editors

All profits from retail commercial activities are reinvested into the railway.

Network Rail is one of the largest land and property owners in the country and during the five year period which ended on 31 March 2014, generated £1.4bn from commercial activities for re-investment in its rail estate. This is enough to transform Birmingham New Street or King’s Cross station, or put in place 5,000km of new railway.

There is more than 510,000 sq ft of retail space at 18 of the largest stations across the country, showcasing many leading high-street brands.

Network Rail is also the country's largest provider of commercial property to small and medium sized businesses, with over 7,000 properties nationwide.

Network Rail works in partnership to develop railway land and property no longer required for operational use, including multi-million pound commercial schemes above our station at Birmingham New Street and joint ventures with the likes of Ballymore, Bloc, Kier and The Office Group.

Network Rail owns and manages 18 of Britain’s biggest and busiest stations (as well as managing St Pancras International on behalf of HS1 Ltd):

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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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