High street baker Greggs has continued its move towards non-standard locations with the acquisition of 1,250 sq ft at Bedwas Business Park in Caerphilly and a 900 sq ft store at MacArthur Glen Designer Outlet, Bridgend. It is also relocating from a small shop it has occupied for almost 15 years to a 1,800 sq ft store, in John Street, Porthcawl. Cooke & Arkwright acts for Greggs in acquiring locations across South and West Wales. Jenkins Best and Knight Frank act as joint agents on behalf of the landlord, M7 Real Estate at Bedwas.
Alex Kalebic of Cooke & Arkwright said, “We identified Bedwas Business Park as a suitable location to add to Greggs’ portfolio of non-traditional outlets and M7 obligingly partitioned the unit to accommodate them. It occupies a prominent location close to the entrance of Bedwas House Industrial Estate and the main estate road. The site in MacArthur Glen is also a great location, with an average annual footfall of above 3m and rising. We continue to look for suitable sites for Greggs across south and west Wales and the borders,” added Mr Kalebic.
Russell Gower, Retail Operations Manager with Greggs said, “The locations at Bedwas and Bridgend fit well into our successful strategy to shift towards an increased presence in business and retail parks, as well as travel and leisure destinations, which provide good growth potential and are less impacted by lower footfall.”
M7 Real Estate bought Bedwas Business Park in summer 2012 when it acquired Lear Investments. Since then the joint agents have let a unit to Screwfix which is located near to Greggs and is reported to be trading well. “Our client, M7 is willing to invest and upgrade the portfolio to attract new clients,” said the agents, Jenkins Best and Knight Frank. “A further unit of 4,000 sq ft is also available.”
Greggs is due to launch a loyalty programme later this summer and is also placing more emphasis on promotional deals and sales of bread from its local bakery to take home.