WITH Tiffany & Co rumoured to be the anchor tenant é and a sparkling array of other top jewellery names also poised to open stores é Manchesterés revamped Royal Exchange Shopping Centre is set to make a glittering comeback.
Ten years after it was badly damaged in the IRA bomb, and two years after rebuilding work began, the once-thriving speciality arcade is now signing new tenants. The revamped centre will look nothing like its half-flea market, half-fashion boutique predecessor.
After the é10m makeover, the emphasis will be on high-class jewellery and pampering the Cheshire ladies-who-lunch.
The arcade is below the Royal Exchange Theatre, with entrances at ground level from St Annés Square and Cross Street. Its location é a stoneés throw from Harvey Nichols and the designer hotspot of King Street é is expected to make it a playground for the north westés big spenders.
New York jewellers Tiffany, which has long planned a move into Manchester, is expected to head a tenant list which could also include international names like Beverley Hills Jewellers, West London diamond specialists Wint & Kidd, and Theo Fennell, whose rings and pendants have graced many a celebrity.
Potential
Like several of the potential tenants, Theo Fennell has already dipped a toe in Manchesterés shopping centre with a concession at Harvey Nichols.
As well as 14 new shops, there will be a health and beauty spa and a restaurant/bar. One of Terence Conranés trendy outlets is tipped as a potential operator.
The centre has been designed to meet the high security specifications of the top gem merchants. Specially-toughened glass and a secure controlled environment have been designed to make both traders and customers feel safe spending tens of thousands of pounds.
Stuart Burdon Bailey, director at letting agents Jones Lang LaSalle, explains: éWeére aiming the Royal Exchange at the ladies who lunch, and the whole thing will have a very top-end feel about it.
éWeére going to hold out for the right tenants, and the best tenants, and we expect to be able to make announcements about who is opening stores during the autumn.é
Revolve
The new bar é which will occupy the 50ft-high central atrium é is expected to become one of the meeting places for the rich and famous, and the arcadeés focal point. éA lot of what happens here will revolve around the bar, and the first-floor restaurant, which will be the key. We are talking to a brasserie operator new to Manchester who will manage both,é says Mr Burdon Bailey.
Newly-appointed centre manager Claire Riley says rebuilding work is due for completion soon. The arcade hopes to welcome its first shoppers by next Spring.
The centreés long and difficult history has made the project a gamble for leaseholders Quintain.
It took advice from retail consultants Wilson McHardy, the firm which worked on the revamp of Londonés Royal Exchange, helping to convert it into an upmarket shopping paradise.
éThe building has been knocked around in all kinds of ways over the last 20 years, and weéve seen several attempted refurbishments which had never really been done correctly. We hope that this time weéve got it right,é says Ms Riley.
