The likes of Mark Allan at Land Securities or Rita-Rose Gagné at Hammerson would not look twice at the modest Broadway shopping centre in Bexleyheath, southeast London. Their view of the world of retail property is that, in an age of online shopping, people only want to go to the biggest and best malls, for the “experience” as much as the stores.
Gagné has spent the past four years getting rid of anything that looks remotely like Broadway, an Eighties shopping facility sat underneath a multi-storey car park, which might not be pretty but is practical. She only wants to own “destination” malls, usually in city centres, such as the Bullring in Birmingham.
Similarly, Allan will only add to his collection of shopping centres if
