London Designer Outlet footfall and sales "boosted by new Bond film"

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 4, 2021

If anyone was wondering whether the reopening of more leisure venues would help retail footfall, the launch of the latest James Bond film could give us some sort of clue.

London Designer Outlet — the shopping location at Wembley Park that has performed very well even when venues were closed — said that the film’s release last week boosted its footfall at the weekend as it has an 8-screen Cineworld cinema. 

And it’s clear that consumers weren’t only there for the entertainment and to browse as centre manager Realm also said that sales rose.

LDO is usually able to benefit from a steady stream of events at Wembley Stadium and The SSE Arena that generate massive footfall, with those consumers often also wanting to dine and shop.

A similar impact can be seen on the other side of London where Icon Outlet at the O2 gets a footfall boost from the O2 entertainment venue. And retailers across the UK and outside of the outlet sector have also focused heavily on attracting leisure operators as tenants due to their ability to attract consumers. Bluewater’s launch this year of an open-air cinema and England’s biggest zip wire underline that fact. 

Meanwhile, Realm didn’t specify any figures regarding the footfall and sales uplift at the weekend, but it was clearly happy about the impact.

Sue Shepherd, General Manager for London Designer Outlet, said: “What a spectacular send-off to Daniel Craig’s James Bond and a stunning welcome back to flocks of cinema-lovers. Over the weekend, since No Time To Die premiered, we’ve seen a  rise in footfall and in sales. Given that guests are increasingly visiting us for our leisure and dining, now accounting for more than a quarter of London Designer Outlet’s total sales and helping to increase centre dwell time and complement our retail and fashion stores, this shows a bright future ahead.

“The return of blockbusters to our cinemas is a very welcome one for both our guests and our high streets. The pandemic has reinforced how important it is to have a mix of leisure, dining and retail in our shopping destinations to provide both the steady footfall and further amplify the irreplaceable experience of bricks-and-mortar retail.”