Pictured: New home - the Lush store at 23 New Street,
Birmingham
Handmade cosmetics retailer Lush has moved to a prime location
in Birmingham city centre, just in time for Christmas and in one of
three deals completed by Cushman & Wakefield.
The Dorset-based firm, which has about 100 shops nationwide, has
a taken a ten-year lease on 23 New Street, at a rent of
£150,000 per annum.
At 1,800 sq ft, the unit is larger that Lush's previous city
centre shop in nearby Corporation Street.
"The new shop is in a slightly better position and a bigger
unit, hence the relocation," said Rob Alston, retail partner at
Cushman & Wakefield, who arranged the deal on behalf of client
LaSalle Investment Manager, investment manager for HSBC Pension
Fund.
23 New Street is part of a number of units owned by HSBC Pension
Fund at this location (21-25 New Street), two of which are occupied
by Clarks Shoes and Carphone Warehouse.
Cushman & Wakefield has arranged new leases for both these
tenants recently, as their existing deals were about to
expire.
In further deals across the Midlands, Cushman & Wakefield
has let 12-14 Park Street to the Card Factory on a ten year lease
at £75,000 per annum, and arranged for Poundworld to take a
7,000 sq ft unit at 4-6 Eastgate Street, the main shopping
thoroughfare in Gloucester.
In the Walsall deal, Card Factory, a Wakefield-based firm with
more than 500 shops, has taken a 1,700 sq ft ground floor and first
floor. At the same time, Cushman & Wakefield arranged for the
freehold interest of the building to change hands between two
private client investors, in a deal worth £850,000.
In Gloucester, the Poundworld store has opened on the site of a
former Currys, and is one of 120 shops that the former now has in
the UK. The firm has taken a ten-year lease on the new unit, at a
rental of £275,000 per annum.
Rob Alston said: "These deals show that there is still life in
the retail industry in the Midlands, despite all the stories of
doom and gloom. We are also busy working to complete a number of
similar deals, so the upward trend looks set to continue into the
New Year."