The Mall Bexleyheath
Encyclopedia
Broadway Shopping Centre, (branded as The Mall Bexleyheath from circa 2004 until reverting to its original name in 2009), is the principal covered shopping centre in the town centre of Bexleyheath
and is the largest single covered shopping facility in the London Borough of Bexley
.
The centre opened in its current form in 1984, underwent an extensive refurbishment in 2007, and had been due to form part of a wider regeneration of the surrounding area of Bexleyheath over the coming years, which would have seen additional retail amenity, council offices, a library
and residential development adjacent to the existing building. However, in 2010, following the sale of the centre, its new owners confirmed the major expansion plan would not be going ahead, though a small extension to the existing site remains a possibility.
There are 59 retail shop
units considered to be within the Mall building (including several premises where public access is from the Broadway itself) and additional smaller retailers in 'RMUs' (small, freestanding kiosk
-like units).
In the early years of the centre's existence, the site was known as the Broadway Shopping Centre; its owners included Norwich Union
. In the early 21st century the building was acquired by the Mall Fund, becoming one of their network of centres under the generic "The Mall" branding. The Mall Fund subsequently purchased the neighbouring Broadway Square, and ran it alongside The Mall. In 2009, The Mall Fund's parent company Capital & Regional agreed a deal to sell the centre to Jones Lang LaSalle
. As a result of its departure from the network, use of the Mall corporate material declined, though some elements (such as signage and branding) remained under The Mall identity, being replaced over a period of time. Other centres which have been sold off by The Mall Fund (such as The Ashley Centre) have reverted to their former names following their sale. Some marketing materials for the centre, as of Spring 2010, began to appear bearing the names 'Broadway' or 'Broadway Shopping Centre'. In September 2010, new signage bearing the name "Broadway Shopping Centre Bexleyheath", with the centre's new red-and-white logo, began replacing the Mall-branded elements.
Following the sale of the centre, it was removed from The Mall's corporate website,; initially, it did not have a dedicated website of its own as a replacement; however, JLL subsequently established one at broadwayshoppingcentre.com - with signs promoting this URL appearing in the centre from September 2010.
. The boundaries of the centre are the Broadway to the north, Townley Road to the west, Albion Road to the south and Norwich Place to the east. Norwich Place and the Broadway are now pedestrianised; the Broadway having been pedestrianised in 1993, and Norwich Place - partly closed off in the 1993 changes - was fully paved as part of the Broadway Square changes of 2001. Access to the malls is via pedestrian entrances at three sides of the mall (Broadway, Townley Road and Norwich Place), and vehicle access to the centre (for parking and deliveries) is via ramping at Albion Road.
The centre is a four-storey building; public access to the retail stores is on the ground level; the first floor contains primarily 'service' (delivery bays), office space including the centre management suite, and the customer toilets
; and the upper floors are car parking. There are two levels of parking - Upper and Lower - and each is divided into three sectors (East, West and Central). Marks & Spencer
, W H Smith
and BHS have since opening offered some of their retail activity on the first floor, accessed via lifts/stairs/escalators within the relevant store; the 2010 H&M
and New Look stores, and the 2011 River Island
store, introduced retail space on the first floor as part of the remodelling process to develop their retail space. Additionally, some stores have suspended ceilings to create a 'false' upper level in their stores, including Next and HMV
.
The building encompasses three covered malls of shops which converge on a central square, and also includes a row of shops facing onto the Broadway itself (the shops between Marks & Spencer
and Thomson
(inclusive) are considered part of the Mall, though their postal addresses are given as being on the Broadway). The sloping nature of the land in the centre of Bexleyheath means that the Broadway entrance leads to a mall which is inclined
until it meets the central square, and the Townley Road entrance is the only entrance of the three to be connected to the street level by steps/ramping.
of the mall, until the 2007 revamp, was in hues of brown
, gold
and cream
, with marble
d pillars, brown tiling in selected areas, cream and brown marble effect floor tiles and copper
-coloured ceiling tiles and strips. The 2007 revamp altered this, most significantly in replacing the entire ceiling with a new white
and grey
one.
The exterior of the building is principally brick
, with dark brown roof tiles; a glazed
white frontage was added to the main entrance area as part of the 2007 alterations.
In addition to the main retail units, small kiosks have featured within the centre to offer additional retail space within the malls; currently there are a number of kiosks in the 'RMU' format also used in a number of the Mall Fund's other centres. The inaugural winner of the Mall Fund's 'Make Your Mark' competition for new retailers was 'Daisy's Dog Deli', a pet food RMU based at The Mall, Bexleyheath. This firm has since relocated to trade from a kiosk at the Bluewater regional shopping mall.
, Poundland
, Wilkinson, Peacocks and Sainsbury's. It was not initially clear whether the sale of the Mall to JLL also included Broadway Square, but new centre maps installed by JLL in September 2010 included the Square stores as well as the main centre, suggesting the whole site had indeed been sold.
were revamped
, and as part of this the men's toilet was relocated
, with the previous men's room becoming a baby changing and feeding area. The mall level was also revamped, with the copper ceiling
strips and tiles, which had been in place since the centre's opening, removed, and replaced by a new white and grey ceiling. Several new skylights were also cut into the roof of the centre to allow more natural light
in - due to the design of the building, with the mall level at the bottom of a four-storey development, access to natural light had been limited prior to the changes. There were also new glazed entrances developed at two of the three pedestrian entrances. The revamp also allowed space for Mall TV displays (monitors broadcasting a loop of information and promotional material) and advertising hoardings. Some of The Mall branded elements introduced in the revamp remained in the centre briefly following the sale to JLL but have now begun to be replaced.
of units in the centre, which have made a limted number of new units available.
Two of these changes involved the division of the centre's original Woolworths
store. When the centre opened in 1984, a large Woolworths was located at the eastern side of the centre close to Marks & Spencer
. In 1990 this was cut in half, creating three new units - one which is currently occupied by HMV
, one for Superdrug
and one for Argos
. The remainder continued as a smaller Woolworths. In 2000, Woolworths moved to the former Safeway
unit on the western side of the centre (near to W H Smith
), with the smaller Woolworths divided again; this allowed Superdrug and Argos to extend to their current sizes, and also allowed the development of three new shop units, taken up by GAME
, Phones4U and Sussex Stationers. Former office space above Woolworths was let to Reed
, with public access to this space created by converting a former Woolworths fire exit. Woolworths remained in the former Safeway store until their collapse at the end of 2008.
Following the closure of Woolworths, its later premises were extensively remodelled and divided into two new retail units. Posters were subsequently applied to the hoardings which confirmed New Look would be taking up a portion of the redeveloped space, relocating from their current store in the centre; subsequently, a strap appeared on another section of the hoarding confirming an H&M
store would be occupying that section of the space from September: this will be H&M's first presence in Bexleyheath. The New Look store opened in late August 2010, followed by the H&M in early September.
The only other major store to have changed its configuration since the mall opened was Boots, which expanded to its current size in 2001 by taking over a vacant single store (formerly occupied by Instep Sports
) neighbouring their original unit.
, which currently neighbours the Mall on its south-eastern side, moved to the current Central Library
site, and the Broadway Square car park replaced by a new parking facility on part of the current Civic Offices site. The existing Magistrates' Court, Broadway Square car park and the remainder of the Civic Offices site would then have been redeveloped with two levels of retail stores (linked into the existing Mall at ground level), with new council offices, a new library and a series of residential blocks located above this. This development was approved by Bexley Council in 2009 and was expected to be developed between 2010 and 2012.
The plans were submitted to the council by Capital & Regional (as The Mall Fund) prior to the sale of The Mall to JLL; it was not immediately clear what effect the sale would have on the redevelopment plans, or if JLL would take over the project in its existing form. In 2010 it was confirmed that the large-scale redevelopment proposed by C&R would not be going ahead: the library and magistrates' court would remain in their existing locations, with the council selling the civic offices site to a large food store (as had been proposed by construction firm John Laing in the rival bid for the original development plan). JLL may redevelop and extend their mall site in a smaller way, most likely by extending the building onto the Broadway Square car park which neighbours the existing building.
are to take up a new store (combining the former Next and Sussex Stationers sites) which is scheduled to open in late November 2011.
, Topshop
and Topman
, Miss Selfridge
, Woolworths
, Safeway
, Rosebys
, Radio Rentals
, Our Price
, Dolcis
, JJB Sports
, Waterstone's
, The Link
, Rumbelows
, Krisp
, Principles
and Next. Some of these firms are still trading elsewhere in the country, though others are now defunct or dormant: see the retailers' pages for more detailed information about each firm.
JD Sports
traded inside the mall for a time (in what is now T-Mobile) after their merger with First Sport, which previously occupied the unit, but subsequently closed this small store to focus on their larger and more recent Broadway Square site.
Mothercare
and Early Learning Centre
were located in separate stores inside the shopping centre for a number of years, but relocated in September 2010 to a former Aldi
store on Market Place, outside the centre's boundaries.
The Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice (formerly Cottage Hospice) charity operated a retail store at various store locations within the mall building for a time, generally taking short-term lets of then-vacant units and relocating as and when required to release stores for new regular tenants. The hospice's most recent store location within the building closed in June 2011 and was not replaced; the hospice's other charity shops elsewhere continue to trade as normal.
Bexleyheath
Bexleyheath is a main suburban district of Southeast London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley with a small percentage of the district itself being in the London Borough of Greenwich. Bexleyheath is located on the border of Inner London and Outer London. It is east south-east of Charing Cross...
and is the largest single covered shopping facility in the London Borough of Bexley
London Borough of Bexley
The London Borough of Bexley lies in south east Greater London, and is a borough referred to as part of Outer London. It has common borders with the London Borough of Bromley to the south, the London Borough of Greenwich to the west, across the River Thames to the north it borders the London...
.
The centre opened in its current form in 1984, underwent an extensive refurbishment in 2007, and had been due to form part of a wider regeneration of the surrounding area of Bexleyheath over the coming years, which would have seen additional retail amenity, council offices, a library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
and residential development adjacent to the existing building. However, in 2010, following the sale of the centre, its new owners confirmed the major expansion plan would not be going ahead, though a small extension to the existing site remains a possibility.
There are 59 retail shop
Retailing
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
units considered to be within the Mall building (including several premises where public access is from the Broadway itself) and additional smaller retailers in 'RMUs' (small, freestanding kiosk
Kiosk
Kiosk is a small, separated garden pavilion open on some or all sides. Kiosks were common in Persia, India, Pakistan, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward...
-like units).
In the early years of the centre's existence, the site was known as the Broadway Shopping Centre; its owners included Norwich Union
Aviva
Aviva plc is a global insurance company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the sixth-largest insurance company in the world measured by net premium income and has 53 million customers in 28 countries...
. In the early 21st century the building was acquired by the Mall Fund, becoming one of their network of centres under the generic "The Mall" branding. The Mall Fund subsequently purchased the neighbouring Broadway Square, and ran it alongside The Mall. In 2009, The Mall Fund's parent company Capital & Regional agreed a deal to sell the centre to Jones Lang LaSalle
Jones Lang LaSalle
Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc. is a multinational financial and professional services company specializing in real estate. Global headquarters are located in Chicago, with an operational remit covering the Americas regional market...
. As a result of its departure from the network, use of the Mall corporate material declined, though some elements (such as signage and branding) remained under The Mall identity, being replaced over a period of time. Other centres which have been sold off by The Mall Fund (such as The Ashley Centre) have reverted to their former names following their sale. Some marketing materials for the centre, as of Spring 2010, began to appear bearing the names 'Broadway' or 'Broadway Shopping Centre'. In September 2010, new signage bearing the name "Broadway Shopping Centre Bexleyheath", with the centre's new red-and-white logo, began replacing the Mall-branded elements.
Following the sale of the centre, it was removed from The Mall's corporate website,; initially, it did not have a dedicated website of its own as a replacement; however, JLL subsequently established one at broadwayshoppingcentre.com - with signs promoting this URL appearing in the centre from September 2010.
Information and location
The Mall is located in a rectangular building in the centre of BexleyheathBexleyheath
Bexleyheath is a main suburban district of Southeast London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley with a small percentage of the district itself being in the London Borough of Greenwich. Bexleyheath is located on the border of Inner London and Outer London. It is east south-east of Charing Cross...
. The boundaries of the centre are the Broadway to the north, Townley Road to the west, Albion Road to the south and Norwich Place to the east. Norwich Place and the Broadway are now pedestrianised; the Broadway having been pedestrianised in 1993, and Norwich Place - partly closed off in the 1993 changes - was fully paved as part of the Broadway Square changes of 2001. Access to the malls is via pedestrian entrances at three sides of the mall (Broadway, Townley Road and Norwich Place), and vehicle access to the centre (for parking and deliveries) is via ramping at Albion Road.
The centre is a four-storey building; public access to the retail stores is on the ground level; the first floor contains primarily 'service' (delivery bays), office space including the centre management suite, and the customer toilets
Washroom
A public toilet is a room or small building containing one or more toilets and possibly also urinals which is available for use by the general public, or in a broader meaning of "public", by customers of other...
; and the upper floors are car parking. There are two levels of parking - Upper and Lower - and each is divided into three sectors (East, West and Central). Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
, W H Smith
W H Smith
WHSmith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products...
and BHS have since opening offered some of their retail activity on the first floor, accessed via lifts/stairs/escalators within the relevant store; the 2010 H&M
H&M
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Swedish retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children....
and New Look stores, and the 2011 River Island
River Island
River Island is one of Britain's best known high street fashion brands and can be found in most cities across the UK. The brand also has stores in Singapore, Turkey, Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Middle East.-History:...
store, introduced retail space on the first floor as part of the remodelling process to develop their retail space. Additionally, some stores have suspended ceilings to create a 'false' upper level in their stores, including Next and HMV
HMV Group
HMV is a British global entertainment retail chain and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company also operates in Hong Kong and Singapore. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index...
.
The building encompasses three covered malls of shops which converge on a central square, and also includes a row of shops facing onto the Broadway itself (the shops between Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
and Thomson
Thomson Holidays
Thomson Holidays is a UK based travel operator and part of TUI Travel PLC. The company was founded as part of the Thomson Travel Group in 1965 following the acquisition of three package holiday travel agencies and the airline Britannia Airways by Roy Thomson...
(inclusive) are considered part of the Mall, though their postal addresses are given as being on the Broadway). The sloping nature of the land in the centre of Bexleyheath means that the Broadway entrance leads to a mall which is inclined
Inclined plane
The inclined plane is one of the original six simple machines; as the name suggests, it is a flat surface whose endpoints are at different heights. By moving an object up an inclined plane rather than completely vertical, the amount of force required is reduced, at the expense of increasing the...
until it meets the central square, and the Townley Road entrance is the only entrance of the three to be connected to the street level by steps/ramping.
History and design
The Mall opened in its current form in 1984. The interior colour schemeColor scheme
In color theory, a color scheme is the choice of colors used in design for a range of media. For example, the use of a white background with black text is an example of a basic and commonly default color scheme in web design....
of the mall, until the 2007 revamp, was in hues of brown
Brown
Brown is a color term, denoting a range of composite colors produced by a mixture of orange, red, rose, or yellow with black or gray. The term is from Old English brún, in origin for any dusky or dark shade of color....
, gold
Gold (color)
Gold, also called golden, is one of a variety of orange-yellow color blends used to give the impression of the color of the element gold....
and cream
Cream (colour)
Cream is the colour of the cream produced by cattle grazing on natural pasture with plants rich in yellow carotenoid pigments, some of which are incorporated into the cream, to give a yellow tone to white. Cream is the pastel colour of yellow, much like as pink is to red. Cream is used as a skin...
, with marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
d pillars, brown tiling in selected areas, cream and brown marble effect floor tiles and copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
-coloured ceiling tiles and strips. The 2007 revamp altered this, most significantly in replacing the entire ceiling with a new white
White
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
and grey
Grey
Grey or gray is an achromatic or neutral color.Complementary colors are defined to mix to grey, either additively or subtractively, and many color models place complements opposite each other in a color wheel. To produce grey in RGB displays, the R, G, and B primary light sources are combined in...
one.
The exterior of the building is principally brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
, with dark brown roof tiles; a glazed
Ceramic glaze
Glaze is a layer or coating of a vitreous substance which has been fired to fuse to a ceramic object to color, decorate, strengthen or waterproof it.-Use:...
white frontage was added to the main entrance area as part of the 2007 alterations.
In addition to the main retail units, small kiosks have featured within the centre to offer additional retail space within the malls; currently there are a number of kiosks in the 'RMU' format also used in a number of the Mall Fund's other centres. The inaugural winner of the Mall Fund's 'Make Your Mark' competition for new retailers was 'Daisy's Dog Deli', a pet food RMU based at The Mall, Bexleyheath. This firm has since relocated to trade from a kiosk at the Bluewater regional shopping mall.
Broadway Square
In 2001, a new shopping development adjacent to the Mall was opened, having been under development for some time. Broadway Square uses a 'strip mall' format to offer a pub and six large retail units, with an associated two-level (basement and ground) car park. Broadway Square was recently acquired by The Mall Fund and is now run in conjunction with the neighbouring Mall, though is still not officially considered part of it. Retailers currently trading from Broadway Square (as at August 2010) are TK Maxx, JD SportsJD Sports
JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as just JD, is a sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England with shops throughout the United Kingdom and with one in Ireland...
, Poundland
Poundland
Poundland is a British-based variety store chain which sells every item in its stores for £1. Established in April 1990 by Dave Dodd and Stephen Smith, Poundland stock a variety of around 3,000 home and kitchen-ware, gifts, healthcare and other products, across 16 categories many of which are brand...
, Wilkinson, Peacocks and Sainsbury's. It was not initially clear whether the sale of the Mall to JLL also included Broadway Square, but new centre maps installed by JLL in September 2010 included the Square stores as well as the main centre, suggesting the whole site had indeed been sold.
2007 revamp
In late 2006 work began on a major refurbishment of the Mall. The lavatory facilitiesWashroom
A public toilet is a room or small building containing one or more toilets and possibly also urinals which is available for use by the general public, or in a broader meaning of "public", by customers of other...
were revamped
Maintenance, Repair and Operations
Maintenance, repair, and operations or maintenance, repair, and overhaul involves fixing any sort of mechanical or electrical device should it become out of order or broken...
, and as part of this the men's toilet was relocated
Moving (address)
Relocation, also known as moving is the process of vacating a fixed location and settling in a different one. A move can be to a nearby location within the same neighborhood, a much farther location in a different city, or sometimes a different country...
, with the previous men's room becoming a baby changing and feeding area. The mall level was also revamped, with the copper ceiling
Ceiling
A ceiling is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limit of a room. It is generally not a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the floor or roof structure above....
strips and tiles, which had been in place since the centre's opening, removed, and replaced by a new white and grey ceiling. Several new skylights were also cut into the roof of the centre to allow more natural light
Sunlight
Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere, and solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon.When the direct solar radiation is not blocked...
in - due to the design of the building, with the mall level at the bottom of a four-storey development, access to natural light had been limited prior to the changes. There were also new glazed entrances developed at two of the three pedestrian entrances. The revamp also allowed space for Mall TV displays (monitors broadcasting a loop of information and promotional material) and advertising hoardings. Some of The Mall branded elements introduced in the revamp remained in the centre briefly following the sale to JLL but have now begun to be replaced.
Previous developments of major stores
Due to the location and design of the building, it has not been possible to extend or materially alter the Mall. However, there have been a small number of changes to the configurationConfiguration (geometry)
In mathematics, specifically projective geometry, a configuration in the plane consists of a finite set of points, and a finite arrangement of lines, such that each point is incident to the same number of lines and each line is incident to the same number of points.Although certain specific...
of units in the centre, which have made a limted number of new units available.
Two of these changes involved the division of the centre's original Woolworths
Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...
store. When the centre opened in 1984, a large Woolworths was located at the eastern side of the centre close to Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
. In 1990 this was cut in half, creating three new units - one which is currently occupied by HMV
HMV Group
HMV is a British global entertainment retail chain and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company also operates in Hong Kong and Singapore. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index...
, one for Superdrug
Superdrug
Superdrug Stores PLC is Britain's second-largest beauty and health retailer behind Boots. Superdrug - part of the AS Watson Group which in turn is part of the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa - is a UK based company with over 890 stores, which since 2006, includes the Republic of Ireland...
and one for Argos
Argos (retailer)
Argos is the largest general-goods retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland with over 800 stores. It is unique amongst major retailers in the UK in that it is a catalogue merchant...
. The remainder continued as a smaller Woolworths. In 2000, Woolworths moved to the former Safeway
Safeway (UK)
Safeway was a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores in the United Kingdom. It started as a subsidiary of the American Safeway Inc., before being sold off in 1987....
unit on the western side of the centre (near to W H Smith
W H Smith
WHSmith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products...
), with the smaller Woolworths divided again; this allowed Superdrug and Argos to extend to their current sizes, and also allowed the development of three new shop units, taken up by GAME
GAME (retailer)
The Game Group plc is a British video games retail company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index....
, Phones4U and Sussex Stationers. Former office space above Woolworths was let to Reed
Reed (Company)
REED is an employment agency. The company was founded in 1960 by Sir Alec Reed CBE, FCMA, FCIM, FCIPD and is currently chaired by his son, James Reed MA, MBA, FCIPD. REED also offers training and HR consultancy services. The company’s website, reed.co.uk, was established in 1995 and doubles as a...
, with public access to this space created by converting a former Woolworths fire exit. Woolworths remained in the former Safeway store until their collapse at the end of 2008.
Following the closure of Woolworths, its later premises were extensively remodelled and divided into two new retail units. Posters were subsequently applied to the hoardings which confirmed New Look would be taking up a portion of the redeveloped space, relocating from their current store in the centre; subsequently, a strap appeared on another section of the hoarding confirming an H&M
H&M
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Swedish retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children....
store would be occupying that section of the space from September: this will be H&M's first presence in Bexleyheath. The New Look store opened in late August 2010, followed by the H&M in early September.
The only other major store to have changed its configuration since the mall opened was Boots, which expanded to its current size in 2001 by taking over a vacant single store (formerly occupied by Instep Sports
Stylo
Stylo plc is a UK based PLC engaged in footwear retailing based in Bradford. It operates under more than 1 brand including Barratts, Priceless and Shutopia and supplies shoes to Dorothy Perkins...
) neighbouring their original unit.
Forthcoming and proposed developments
The Mall Company backed a scheme as part of a proposed redevelopment of Bexleyheath town centre. The scheme would have seen Bexley Magistrates' CourtMagistrates' Court
A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
, which currently neighbours the Mall on its south-eastern side, moved to the current Central Library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
site, and the Broadway Square car park replaced by a new parking facility on part of the current Civic Offices site. The existing Magistrates' Court, Broadway Square car park and the remainder of the Civic Offices site would then have been redeveloped with two levels of retail stores (linked into the existing Mall at ground level), with new council offices, a new library and a series of residential blocks located above this. This development was approved by Bexley Council in 2009 and was expected to be developed between 2010 and 2012.
The plans were submitted to the council by Capital & Regional (as The Mall Fund) prior to the sale of The Mall to JLL; it was not immediately clear what effect the sale would have on the redevelopment plans, or if JLL would take over the project in its existing form. In 2010 it was confirmed that the large-scale redevelopment proposed by C&R would not be going ahead: the library and magistrates' court would remain in their existing locations, with the council selling the civic offices site to a large food store (as had been proposed by construction firm John Laing in the rival bid for the original development plan). JLL may redevelop and extend their mall site in a smaller way, most likely by extending the building onto the Broadway Square car park which neighbours the existing building.
List of retailers
The following is a list of retailers trading in the Centre as of 9 November 2011, not including RMUs.- 3 StoreHutchison 3G3 is a brand name under which several UMTS-based mobile phone networks and Broadband Internet Providers are operated in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom...
- Ann SummersAnn SummersAnn Summers is a United Kingdom-based retailer specialising in sex toys and lingerie, with over 140 high street stores in the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and Spain. In 2000, Ann Summers acquired the Knickerbox brand, a label with an emphasis on more comfortable and feminine underwear, while...
- ArgosArgos (retailer)Argos is the largest general-goods retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland with over 800 stores. It is unique amongst major retailers in the UK in that it is a catalogue merchant...
- BarrattsStyloStylo plc is a UK based PLC engaged in footwear retailing based in Bradford. It operates under more than 1 brand including Barratts, Priceless and Shutopia and supplies shoes to Dorothy Perkins...
- BHSBHSBHS may refer to:* Baggage handling system, a type of conveyor system installed in airports* Barbershop Harmony Society, the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop music as an art form* Beck Hopelessness Scale, a psychological test...
- Bijou Brigitte (opened December 2010)
- Boots
- Boots Opticians (formerly D&ADollond & AitchisonDollond & Aitchison are one of the oldest opticians in the United Kingdom, having been established in 1750.- History :On 21 April, 1750, Peter Dollond opened a small optical business in Vine Street, near Hatton Garden in London. He was joined by his father John Dollond in 1752. The Dollonds became...
) - prior to Boots-D&A merger, Boots Opticians operated from a store on Broadway (now CeXCeXCeX is a second hand goods chain based in the United Kingdom specialising in technology, computing and video games.-History:...
) opposite the main Mall entrance - Burger KingBurger KingBurger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
- Burton
- Buy The Book
- Card FactoryCard FactoryCard Factory is a chain of greeting card and gift stores in United Kingdom founded by Dean Hoyle and his wife Janet; the first store opened in 1997. The company currently employs around 4,500 people, mostly in front line positions in its stores. Their advertising claims they have not increased...
- opened spring 2011 (former Krisp ClothingKrisp ClothingKrisp Clothing is a British ladies' fashion clothing retailer based principally in London and the South of England. As of 2009 the firm operates 23 retail stores, which operate under the Krisp branding, and also trades online through its retail website.The firm manufactures and retails a range of...
store) - the card firm's second Bexleyheath branch - Carphone Warehouse
- Claire'sClaire'sClaire's is a retailer of accessories and jewelry to girls and young women. Claire's has over 3,000 locations worldwide: their stores are in 95% of all U.S. shopping malls, and in 33 countries...
- ClarksC&J ClarkC. and J. Clark International Ltd, trading as Clarks, is a British, international shoe manufacturer and retailer based in Street, Somerset, England...
- Clinton CardsClinton CardsClinton Cards is a chain of stores in the UK founded in 1968 by Don Lewin. Mostly selling greeting cards, as the name suggests, the chain claims to be "the largest specialist retailer of greetings cards, plush merchandise and related products in the UK with over 700 shops." They used to be...
- Dorothy PerkinsDorothy PerkinsDorothy Perkins, whose trading name was inspired by a rambler rose of the same name, is a large British women's clothing retailer, active mostly in the United Kingdom.- History :...
- Ernest Jones
- Evans - formerly a standalone store, now as concession within BHSBHSBHS may refer to:* Baggage handling system, a type of conveyor system installed in airports* Barbershop Harmony Society, the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop music as an art form* Beck Hopelessness Scale, a psychological test...
- Gallery Gifts
- GAMEGAME (retailer)The Game Group plc is a British video games retail company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index....
- GreggsGreggsGreggs plc is the largest specialist retail bakery chain in the United Kingdom. It was established in the 1930s as a single shop but has approximately 1,500 outlets....
- H&MH&MH & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Swedish retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children....
(from September 2010) - H. SamuelH. SamuelH. Samuel is a mass-market jewellery chain, operating in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is the number one middle mass-market jewellery store in the United Kingdom. There are 375 stores as at 23rd Feb 2008. An increasing number of the chain's stores trade in a new format known...
- Harris's (footwear store, opened December 2010)
- HMVHMV GroupHMV is a British global entertainment retail chain and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company also operates in Hong Kong and Singapore. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index...
- Holland & BarrettHolland & BarrettHolland & Barrett is a chain of health food shops with over 600 stores in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, South Africa, Singapore and Malta. The company also has stores in The Netherlands, where they trade as "De Tuinen".-Ownership:...
- Honeybee Boutique
- Jessops - opened August 2011
- Marks & SpencerMarks & SpencerMarks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
split across two stores, facing one another - McDonald'sMcDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
- MonsoonMonsoon Stores LtdMonsoon Accessorize is a design-led retailer based in London operating two international retail clothing chains - Monsoon and Accessorize.- History :...
and AccessorizeMonsoon Stores LtdMonsoon Accessorize is a design-led retailer based in London operating two international retail clothing chains - Monsoon and Accessorize.- History :...
- formerly two separate stores, combined into one unit in 2009 - NatWestNational Westminster BankNational Westminster Bank Plc, commonly known as NatWest, is the largest retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom and has been part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc since 2000. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is ranked as the second largest bank in the world by assets...
- New Look (Relocated to the ex-Woolworths store as of 18 August 2010)
- O2
- Optical ExpressOptical ExpressOptical Express is a retail optical services company in the United Kingdom. Optical Express is part of the Optical Express Group, which operates in the optical, dental and cosmetic industries. It is the forth largest high street retail optician in the UK, which, combined, account for 55% of the...
- Past Times (opened Oct 2009)
- Phones4U
- Pure Party & BirthdaysBirthdays (retailer)Birthdays is a British High Street greeting cards retailer. From its beginning in 1966, Ron Wood Greeting Cards operated as a wholesaler of greeting cards and gift wrap in Bury, Greater Manchester. In the mid 1970s three card shops were opened and soon the number had increased to thirty...
- previous Birthdays standalone store moved to this new store in 2009 - ReedReed (Company)REED is an employment agency. The company was founded in 1960 by Sir Alec Reed CBE, FCMA, FCIM, FCIPD and is currently chaired by his son, James Reed MA, MBA, FCIPD. REED also offers training and HR consultancy services. The company’s website, reed.co.uk, was established in 1995 and doubles as a...
- Sblended Milkshakes
- River IslandRiver IslandRiver Island is one of Britain's best known high street fashion brands and can be found in most cities across the UK. The brand also has stores in Singapore, Turkey, Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Middle East.-History:...
- relocated to larger former MothercareMothercareMothercare plc is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
store from November 2011 - StarbucksStarbucksStarbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
- Steads (shoe repair)
- SuperdrugSuperdrugSuperdrug Stores PLC is Britain's second-largest beauty and health retailer behind Boots. Superdrug - part of the AS Watson Group which in turn is part of the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa - is a UK based company with over 890 stores, which since 2006, includes the Republic of Ireland...
- The Body ShopThe Body ShopThe Body Shop International plc, known as The Body Shop, has 2,400 stores in 61 countries, and is the second largest cosmetic franchise in the world, following O Boticario, a Brazilian company...
- The Perfume Shop
- Thomas CookThomas Cook GroupThomas Cook Group plc is a travel company created on 19 June, 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group plc. At flotation on the London Stock Exchange 52% of the shares in the new company were held by the German mail order and department store corporation Arcandor and 48% owned by...
- ThomsonThomson HolidaysThomson Holidays is a UK based travel operator and part of TUI Travel PLC. The company was founded as part of the Thomson Travel Group in 1965 following the acquisition of three package holiday travel agencies and the airline Britannia Airways by Roy Thomson...
- T-MobileT-MobileT-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
and Orange - (Previously a T-Mobile store; Orange moved in with its sister companyEverything EverywhereEverything Everywhere Limited is a mobile network operator and internet service provider company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest mobile network operator in the UK, with around 28 million customers...
in 2011) - Vision ExpressVision ExpressVision Express is one of the four major opticians that control 70% of the British market for spectacles and contact lenses.The company opened its first store in 1988 at the MetroCentre. After buying out LensCrafters' UK base, they further increased their number of stores. They had over 220 stores...
- VodafoneVodafone United KingdomVodafone is the largest of services and telecommunications in the United Kingdom, in terms of network, behind O2, and Orange/T-Mobile .....
- WallisWallis (retailer)Wallis is a British women's clothing retailer. The brand operates from 134 stores and 126 concessions across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Wallis is a subsidiary of the Arcadia Group and one of the many companies under ownership of Philip Green, a British retailing icon.-History:The first store...
- returned as concession within BHS in 2009 having been absent from Bexleyheath since 1994 - W H SmithW H SmithWHSmith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products...
- Bexleyheath Post Office has traded from this store since 2008, having previously been a standalone service further down the Broadway
Forthcoming retailers and changes
DeichmannHeinrich Deichmann-Schuhe GmbH
-About The Company:Deichmann Shoes is a shoe store which is the largest monger of shoes and sportswear in Europe. Established in 1913 by Heinrich Deichmann. The company is headquartered in Essen, Germany...
are to take up a new store (combining the former Next and Sussex Stationers sites) which is scheduled to open in late November 2011.
Former retailers
Retailers which have formerly traded at the Broadway Shopping Centre but no longer do so include DixonsCurrys.digital
Currys Digital is an electrical retailer in the United Kingdom, that is owned by DSG International plc.With its origins in a photographic shop opened by Charles Kalms, the chain now has a store in most towns and cities across the UK and Ireland...
, Topshop
Topshop
Topshop is a British clothes retailer with shops in over 20 countries and online operations in a number of its markets. Its sales come primarily from women's clothing and fashion accessories...
and Topman
Topman
TOPMAN is the stand-alone fashion business counterpart of Topshop that caters exclusively to men’s clothing. A part of the Arcadia Group, which also owns Burton, Miss Selfridge, Wallis, Evans, British Home Stores and Dorothy Perkins, Topman has a chain of high-street men's clothing stores located...
, Miss Selfridge
Miss Selfridge
Miss Selfridge is a nationwide UK high street store which began as the young fashion section of Selfridges department store in London in 1966. Miss Selfridge got its name when Charles Clore, the owner of Selfridges at the time, saw a window display in the Bonwit Teller store in New York which...
, Woolworths
Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...
, Safeway
Safeway (UK)
Safeway was a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores in the United Kingdom. It started as a subsidiary of the American Safeway Inc., before being sold off in 1987....
, Rosebys
Rosebys
Rosebys was a retail chain, consisting of over 300 soft furnishing stores across the United Kingdom. Rosebys sold bedding, curtains, bathroom textiles, and other products...
, Radio Rentals
Radio Rentals
Radio Rentals was formed in 1932 to rent out radio sets by Percy Perring-Thoms with a turnover in the first year of £780. It later moved into televisions and ultimately video recorders. In 1965 it merged with RentaSet, Joseph Robinson's similarly formed company...
, Our Price
Our Price
Our Price was a chain of record stores in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland from 1972 until 2004. Originally founded in 1972 by Gary Nesbitt, Edward Stollins and Mike Isaacs, early stores were branded "The Tape Revolution" and concentrated on the then-new compact cassette format.The name...
, Dolcis
Dolcis Shoes
-History:The company began life on a street barrow in 1863 when John Upson started to sell his shoes on Woolwich Town Market. Business grew, and from the barrow he graduated to his first store in Woolwich called the Great Boot Provider....
, JJB Sports
JJB Sports
JJB Sports plc is a United Kingdom sports retailer. It currently operates 251 stores in the UK and Ireland.- History :The sportshop chain was founded in 1971, when ex-footballer Dave Whelan acquired a single sports shop in Wigan. The original store was established by JJ Broughton in the early...
, Waterstone's
Waterstone's
Waterstone's is a British book specialist established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone that employs around 4,500 staff throughout the United Kingdom and Europe....
, The Link
The Link (retailer)
The Link was an internet-based mobile phone and communications retailer in the United Kingdom. It is owned by Dixons Retail , the UK's largest consumer electronics retail group, and traded online through a dedicated retail website, which in addition to mobile phones also offered satellite...
, Rumbelows
Rumbelows
Rumbelows was an electrical and electronics retailer in the United Kingdom which once rivalled Currys, Dixons and Comet.-History:Fred Dawes established the company as a chain of television and radio rental shops in the 1950s, naming it Fred Dawes...
, Krisp
Krisp Clothing
Krisp Clothing is a British ladies' fashion clothing retailer based principally in London and the South of England. As of 2009 the firm operates 23 retail stores, which operate under the Krisp branding, and also trades online through its retail website.The firm manufactures and retails a range of...
, Principles
Principles (retailer)
Principles was a UK-based fashion retailer founded in 1984.The firm was launched by the Burton Group as an attempt to capitalise on the new modern trends in fashion; the mid-1980s was the boom era for the yuppie, a new upmarket cultural movement, and power dressing was a key trend: at the time,...
and Next. Some of these firms are still trading elsewhere in the country, though others are now defunct or dormant: see the retailers' pages for more detailed information about each firm.
JD Sports
JD Sports
JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as just JD, is a sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England with shops throughout the United Kingdom and with one in Ireland...
traded inside the mall for a time (in what is now T-Mobile) after their merger with First Sport, which previously occupied the unit, but subsequently closed this small store to focus on their larger and more recent Broadway Square site.
Mothercare
Mothercare
Mothercare plc is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
and Early Learning Centre
Early Learning Centre
The Early Learning Centre is a British chain of shops selling toys for very young children.-History:Originally set up as a mail order company in 1974 and was always based near Swindon; by 1980 it had ten shops; and it has grown to include 215 shops in the UK and over 80 in 19 other countries such...
were located in separate stores inside the shopping centre for a number of years, but relocated in September 2010 to a former Aldi
ALDI
ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG, doing business as ', short for "Albrecht Discount", is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany...
store on Market Place, outside the centre's boundaries.
The Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice (formerly Cottage Hospice) charity operated a retail store at various store locations within the mall building for a time, generally taking short-term lets of then-vacant units and relocating as and when required to release stores for new regular tenants. The hospice's most recent store location within the building closed in June 2011 and was not replaced; the hospice's other charity shops elsewhere continue to trade as normal.