The Heart of Manchester BID has significantly increased footfall and spend in Manchester’s retail core during the last 12 months, according to its latest Annual Report, which documents another successful year for the city centre’s Business Improvement District.
The BID, which celebrated its third anniversary this Spring, has worked with a number of city partners to upscale and evolve existing city centre events during the last year, bringing in new footfall and increasing sales for retailers and businesses across the city’s retail district. These have included Manchester’s Chinese New Year celebrations, now widely acknowledged as the biggest celebrations in the UK outside of London, and two dedicated student shopping events in conjunction with Manchester Arndale – the MCR Student Night Out and MCR Student Spring Break.
Manchester’s four day Chinese New Year celebrations to see in the Year of the Monkey in February in conjunction with Manchester City Council, Federation of Chinese Associations of Manchester (FCAM) and the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) were the biggest the city has hosted to date. Footfall increased by 16% YoY, averaging 85,000 visitors per day.
The BID secured headline sponsorship from Manchester Airport and Hainan Airlines to support the new Manchester-Beijing route launching next month. The four day event saw the city’s streets festooned with more than 6,000 lanterns, the installation of a 50ft long giant golden dragon in Exchange Square, a spectacular light show which illuminated St Ann’s Square, a Chinese Food Market, graffiti artists, an Asian Street Food Village, lion dancing, parkour runners and more.
In September 2015, some stores reported sales increases of up to 50% YoY when the BID joined forces with Manchester Arndale to extend its MCR Student Night Out event across the city centre for the second year running. Following the success of this collaboration, Manchester Arndale and the BID teamed up again in April to bring Manchester Arndale’s popular MCR Student Spring Break event city-wide, resulting in 41,000 shoppers in the centre, +8% compared to the same event in 2015.
The BID’s summer garden festival, Dig the City, which took place in August 2015, was witnessed by more than 1 million visitors and delivered a 30% increase in footfall compared to 2014.
2016-2017 has seen the BID’s event programme double with new events including Manchester’s King Street Festival, which took place over the May Bank Holiday (28-30 May), One Big Summer Weekend (22-24 July) and Halloween in the City (29 Oct).
The King Street Festival celebrated the revival of Manchester’s iconic shopping street with a long weekend of shopping, music, fashion and enjoyed a 64% increase in footfall over the Bank Holiday– 52,000 visitors reveling in the sunshine. Over 50 stores, restaurants and brands took part and King Street’s rich history was celebrated via the festival’s Heritage Trail and walking tours.
One Big Summer Weekend rounds-up a few days of family fun at the start of the school holidays. Tasters of the European Science Festival with the Allotment of the Future in St Ann’s Square, Manchester Jazz Festival on New Cathedral Street and The Manchester Picnic in Exchange Square will provide lots of reasons to visit as the streets are brought to life with food and entertainment.
The Business Improvement District’s 2016 Mystery Shopping Awards were also announced this month. The initiative which evaluates retailers across the city on the quality of their customer service, demonstrates the BID’s ongoing commitment to ensuring the shopping experience in Manchester is the best it can be. More than 100 stores were found to offer outstanding levels of customer service, with 27 city centre businesses scoring 100%, demonstrating service excellence over a detailed range of criteria, 40% of retailers scored 90% or more, while the city centre collectively achieved an impressive overall score of 84%.
In addition to a stellar events programme, the BID has continued to fund of a team of City Hosts to support the overall visitor experience to Manchester. In the last 12 months the dedicated 24/7 team of hosts have welcomed over 130,000 visitors, averaging 45 welcomes every hour. Operationally the BID has continued to support stores by improving environmental standards and helping city services respond to issues around utilities, streetscape works, litter, commercial waste, street cleaning and homelessness.
Jane Sharrocks, General Manager at Selfridges Exchange Square and Heart of Manchester BID Chair said: “BID events have consistently delivered increased footfall and retail sales over the last three years and as a result we’ve increased our events programme to six per year. We’ll continue to grow existing events such as Chinese New Year and the MCR Student Night Out with key partners, and we are pleased to be launching new events, such as the King Street Festival, which will be delivered purely by the BID working collectively with its members. It’s this collaborative spirit of retailers working together that will ensure the sector continues to thrive.
“Manchester has retained its position as the second largest retail economy outside London and all these events are happening in a city that is itself undergoing major redevelopment, with over £1 billion investment into the transport infrastructure.
“We’re delighted with the results of the BID’s third year of activity and with a strong calendar of events planned we’re confident we can continue to improve on our success.”
