Merry Hill pens book deal as Waterstones becomes 25th brand to invest in the destination in 2024

Merry Hill is celebrating a landmark year for tenant commitments, with 25 deals completed in 2024, representing 110,000 sq ft of space at the top 10 UK retail and leisure destination. Renewals formed over half of these, underscoring Merry Hill’s performance, where leading brands succeed and want to stay long-term.

The 15 brands that have renewed at Merry Hill this year span its diverse line-up, including British book retailer Waterstones, which covers two floors near the flourishing Leisure Quarter. Waterstones have significantly invested in the store, updating its shop-fit and adding a brand-new shopfront. Other retailers that have recommitted to the West Midlands flagship destination recently are jewellery trio, Ernest Jones, H. Samuel, and Pandora, with the latter completing a new store fit earlier this month. These deals take the total number of renewals at Merry Hill to 92 in a little over three years.

Merry Hill has also welcomed back to the destination well-renowned retailers OFFICE, Swarovski, and Accessorize, highlighting the centre’s continued evolution and growth in recent years. That is further exemplified by a series of ‘firsts’ at Merry Hill, including the upcoming national debuts for Harvey Norman and XF Gym, and openings for Sides – the first outside London – and Nike Unite, the concept’s first appearance in a shopping centre.

Alistair Winning, Asset Manager at Sovereign Centros from CBRE, asset managers of Merry Hill, commented: “2024 is shaping up to be another bumper year for Merry Hill. We’re really driving leasing momentum at the centre, welcoming 10 new lettings to refresh our tenant mix and 15 renewals, which have further strengthened the existing offer. It comes as no surprise to us because we know brands succeed here; Merry Hill’s effort ratio is much better than benchmark numbers for comparable centres, and the investment in creating a leisure quarter has energised more visits and longer dwell which all our retailers are benefitting from. We’re not finished yet, with the last quarter of the year set to see several anchor units open, not least the solution for the former Debenhams as Harvey Norman and XF Gym line up launches of their national debuts.”

Evie Morrison, Bookshop Manager, Waterstones Merry Hill, added: “We can’t wait to welcome both regular and new customers through the doors of our beautifully refurbished bookshop! Our bookselling team is delighted to continue serving the readers of Merry Hill in a brighter, more modern and welcoming environment.”

Ross Monaghan, Sales Director at Pandora UK, said: “We’ve been taking our new Evoke 2.0 concept to many of our stores across the UK, but as one of our top-performers nationally, Merry Hill was an obvious place to invest in. Combining a strong sense of community with a broad spectrum of customers, Merry Hill has always been the ideal home for Pandora, and our commitment and evolution here is a sign of our confidence in how the destination delivers for us.”

Merry Hill has had a rise in both footfall and spend over the past 12 months, with the number of visits rising by 6 percent and total sales up by 5 percent, comparing September to August over the last two years. This follows a record 2023, with footfall and sales up 9.4 percent and 7 percent respectively versus 2022, showing consistent growth ahead of major new anchor openings from Harvey Norman and XF Gym in October.