Oldham Market Demand Analysis
About the brand
Oldham Council are leading the redevelopment and rejuvenation of Oldham town centre as part of the ‘Creating a Better Place’ regeneration programme. Oldham Council purchased the Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre in October 2020 and, following public consultation in March 2021 to collate stakeholder requirements, is delivering revised town centre space that will include new space for a relocated Tommyfield Market, a modern food court, event space plus office/co-working space for local businesses.
The Challenge/Task
Pragma were asked by Oldham Council to provide a robust evidence-base on existing town centre retail performance and dynamics and to help understand the optimum ways to support the commercial performance of the town centre.
WHAT WE DID
Pragma worked closely with Oldham Council to identify the optimum commercial and occupier recommendations to maximise performance and value across the town centre. This included:
• Kick-off meetings with Oldham Council to understand the vision and objectives for the re-development and rejuvenation of Oldham town centre
• In-depth audit of Oldham town centre’s existing provision, reviewing unit locations, sizes, adjacencies, fit-out, stock packages, staffing and floorspaces
• Utilisation of mobile phone data to understand how footfall, visitor profile and catchment extent have changed in the last 5 years, with comparison to regional competitors/benchmarks to contextualise and help determine opportunities for growth
• Benchmarking analysis of competing locations utilised by visitors and catchment residents to understand the potential for town centre initiatives to help reduce leakage
• Review of sales performance in light of visitor spend potential to determine achieved market share. Benchmarking to determine existing strengths and quantify opportunities for improved turnover performance
• Summary of key strengths and weaknesses by use and micro-location and evidence their impact on performance and provision
• Identification of the upsizes, relocations and occupier additions that would drive improved sales performance. Contextualisation of the potential to deliver improvements given occupier provision and likely decision-making in regard to their regional estate
The Result
Oldham Council have evaluated Pragma’s proposed recommendations for the town centre, based on the comprehensive research, benchmarking study and town audit. This gives the Council the knowledge, evidence-base and ability to move onto the next stage of work as part of the ‘Creating a Better Place’ regeneration programme, allowing for presentation of a clear journey of improvement to be presented to key stakeholders including residents, current and target occupiers and councillors.