AshbyCapital and Exemplar have let three of the five retail units at The Avenue, their new office and retail building located on the corner of Bedford Avenue and Tottenham Court Road in London’s West End.
Danish bakery, Ole & Steen, has taken the corner retail unit consisting 1,627 sq ft of ground floor space.
Cath Kidston has let a total of 2,521 sq ft of space across the ground and lower-ground floors. The British lifestyle brand, which began in 1993 from a small shop in West London selling vintage finds and unique, cheerful prints, now has stores in 20 countries around the world, including over 70 across the UK.
Sue Carvell, Commercial Director at Cath Kidston, said: “Cath Kidston’s expansion in its home market forms a key part of our current strategy, especially as we build our London and Travel portfolio of stores. The Avenue continues the transformation of the Tottenham Court Road area that is taking place so well and provides us with a prime retail space that will attract high customer footfall and increases our brand’s presence in attractive, central London shopping locations.”
Hema, the Dutch retail brand offering originally designed homewares, stationery and cosmetics, has also chosen The Avenue for its latest UK store. The group, which has almost 700 stores in seven countries, with 10,000 employees serving over six million visitors every week, opened its first outlet in England in 2014.
Michael Bucknell, Development Director at Exemplar, said: “A truly stellar line-up is now taking shape at The Avenue. Welcoming an F&B offering not only gives shoppers, neighbouring office workers and local residents more choice, but also benefits our office tenants by providing the convenience of an on-site café where they can grab lunch or an afternoon coffee, or have informal catch-ups with clients or colleagues. The arrival of Cath Kidston and Hema also brings two new well-respected lifestyle and homewares brands to the area, highlighting the broadening offer for shoppers here. We are currently under offer on the two remaining retail units at the building and look forward to announcing further new brands taking space soon.”
“By choosing to open new stores at The Avenue, Ole & Steen, Cath Kidston and Hema are highlighting the changing face of Tottenham Court Road. The new station, which is now open and set to welcome Crossrail next year will make this the main entry point to the West End, and the £40 million West End Project is creating new boulevard pavements and open spaces to encourage longer dwell times. These high-quality retailers are the latest in a string of new entrants and established brands to recognise the strong and growing appeal of this increasingly vibrant area.
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The Avenue also comprises 71,000 sq ft of office space. Skyscanner has taken the top three storeys, leaving 47,000 sq ft remaining, set over four contiguous floors.
Agents for the retail space are CBRE and Nash Bond. Graeme Wait represented Ole & Steen, CBRE represented Cath Kidston and Harper Dennis Hobbs represented Hema. Office space at The Avenue is being marketed by joint agents CBRE and Savills.