RETAILPARKS:Retail parks are trying to improve the experience for shoppers with coffee shops and food outlets

RETAIL PARKS are extending their scope to encourage customers to linger and spend.

With 2009 spending expected to be slower than it was in 2008, retail parks - traditionally zoned to deal in bulky goods - are increasingly setting aside space for coffee shops and fast food outlets.

Shane Cahir of Colliers Jackson-Stops believes most parks "will get through 2010-2011" but says managers and landlords "are already trying to improve the retail experience for shoppers so as to extend dwell time. Traditionally, shoppers spent less than an hour buying bulky goods; it was a one-product stop and then they left. This is changing and different combinations are being tried out."

Retail parks are getting around the bulky goods zoning by setting aside areas for leisure, eating or sports - "opening up the trading possibilities so as to make more customers stay and spend" says Cahir. Well located retail parks are doing relatively well. But the oversupply of retail parks in the north-east is having repercussions and many are struggling.

"The homewares and DIY markets have switched off dramatically," says Cahir, "due to the drop in the number of houses being built. The decline has been coming since the end of 2006 and the numbers of such retailers going into retail parks have scaled back. Expansions planned for 2009-2010 may be put off until 2012-2013 in the hope that things will have picked up. Developers with financing in place will go ahead but will slow down the release of units, releasing them two or three at a time instead of six or seven at a time as has been the case up until now."

The experiences of individual parks tell the wider story. Blackwater Retail Park, on Kells Road, outside Navan, is anchored by Woodies DIY and "doing well, with only one empty unit", according to Erin Madden of Savills. "The main problem is that traditional furniture operators are struggling. The bulky goods zoning limits the use of the spaces but this year has seen non-traditional users, like Halfords (bikes) and Mothercare, go into retail parks because the rents are more affordable than they are on the high street."

Retail parks in good locations are still doing well, says Madden. Portlaoise Retail Park is, she says, "a case study. It's the first retail park in the town, has a good anchor in Homebase (which has a child's nursery on site) and non-traditional tenants such as Heatons, Mothercare, Pet Mania and Halfords, bringing in customers because goods are more affordable in the retail park than on the high street."

Cahir points to Manor West Retail Park in Tralee as a notable success for much the same reason. "It's one of the most successful in the country because it is the biggest in Kerry and the only such shopping destination for that county as a whole."

Phase two at Manor West Retail Park opened this year when Pet Mania, Halfords and Smyths Toys opened. Two units remain and discussions for a 929sq m (10,000sq ft) unit are ongoing with a major electrical retailer.

Homebase has signed up for a 3,252sq m (35,000sq ft) anchor unit in Navan Retail Park in spring 2009. Cahir says there are "still a number of units available" in the park, which is on the Athboy Road in Co Meath. Halfords, Pet Mania and DID Electrical are signed to move in and discussions are ongoing with "three main UK retailers and one Irish retailer". Aldi has bought a site subject to planning. With a new ring road to open in 2009, Cahir is confident that the park, which will draw in customers from Athboy, Kells, Dunshaughlin, Trim and Navan, will "bed-down" successfully.

Madden says that Drogheda's M1 Retail Park, anchored by Woodies, does "very well with 26,000 cars a week. Mothercare has gone in there and Costa Coffee is to go in, making it a people-friendly place where familes can go."