12/7/2023

Two award-winning and growing national brands - Loungers, the café/restaurant, and gym operator Pure Gym - are to open branches at The Galleries Shopping Centre, Washington.

The leading operators have each agreed 15-year leases with the shopping centre and will be moving into the Marketplace, which will close on Sunday, January 28.

Simon Eatough, director for landlord and tenant at LCP, part of M Core, which owns and manages the shopping centre, said: "Attracting two significant national brands to The Galleries is a major coup and will help with our plans to further improve the popular centre and we are looking forward to them opening.

"Across our entire retail portfolio up and down the country, we are always looking at ways we can enhance the experience for regular shoppers and occasional visitors, and we are confident that Loungers and Pure Gym at The Galleries will be a boost for the town and complement our existing mix of high-quality national and independent tenants.

"The good news comes on the back of our announcement that B&M has taken a 10-year lease on the recently closed Wilko store as well as other recent openings, including Deichmann and Select."

Pure Gym is taking over 10,812 sq ft of space, while Loungers has signed up for 3,919 sq ft whilst talks with JD to upsize their presence in the Centre are also in the final stages of negotiations. Work to transform the units is expected to start in February.

JD is also expanding and is moving from a 2,762 sq ft store at unit 89 to the one adjacent to Loungers, which is 10,986sq ft..

The Galleries has seen a significant rise in the number of shoppers this year, with August recording a record-breaking summer at 2.1 million. October saw a 16% increase in footfall on the previous year at 1.94 million shoppers.

The Galleries is anchored by Asda and Sainsbury's and it has welcomed a raft of new tenants since LCP bought the scheme in 2021 including Trespass, Klass and One Beyond. The centre has more than 100 retailers and services over 535,000 sq ft, as well as 2,500 free car parking spaces and a dedicated bus station.