One of the big narratives surrounding retail over the past decade is how dramatically our relationship with the shopping centre has changed, something that has created a new challenge for brands, businesses and retail maintenance partners.
In particular, two recent proposals to regenerate the city of Hull include proposals that would have previously been unthinkable, and would cause the fourth largest city in Yorkshire to go without a major shopping centre in the city centre.
The proposals, part of a speculative document called City Centre Vision, suggested that by 2040, Princes Quay on Hull’s former dockyards could be demolished and replaced with a floating entertainment district, including a lido, entertainment stage and habitat islands.
Other proposals suggest partial removal or an increased focus on leisure and recreational facilities whilst retaining the retail footprint that remains, but it has asked the question of whether many towns and cities need shopping centres, and whether there is a future where they could cease to exist.
Both the case for and the case against shopping centres rely on differing visions of experiential retail, the idea of turning retail shops into attractions in their own right that inspire people to visit for reasons other than the quantity of goods on offer.
The case for removal is that the space could be used to create smaller, more targeted retail streets that are designed around communities far more than historic shopping centres, which tend to have a uniform style inspired by big box stores.
Many smaller towns and village shopping centres have followed this exact route, particularly as smaller shopping centres have increasingly emptied as retail chains consolidate their business, are bought out by competitors or collapse into administration entirely, often taking with them essential public services.
On the other hand, as the revival of the department store has proven, it is possible to create a cohesive, highly vibrant experience in a shopping centre, particularly if space is given to leisure and recreational facilities and care is taken with their maintenance and design.