Major North East retail centre rebrands to celebrate inclusion of small local businesses

The Royal Quays Outlet Centre in North Shields has rebranded to recognise the small independent businesses that have moved into the centre.

The shopping facility is now known as the Royal Quays Independent and Outlet Centre.

Since the height of the pandemic the site has seen forced shop closures, lower than average footfall, competition from online sales and a decline in the popularity of brand-based stores.

By October 2020 there were 17 empty units in the centre. However, this has since been reduced to four.

Centre manager Matt Dawson said: “Retail has been battered in the past year and we have anticipated, embraced, and supported the many new businesses here. We’re not going to see large brands expand soon and it’s not easy to just pull in any large store especially as online sales have decimated many high street household names.”

“We’ve rebranded because the expectations of people when they see Royal Quays Outlet is that it’s just an Outlet with lots of designer brands at outlet prices. We want to highlight the changes we’ve made and lead the way in showing our support to the many businesses we have here, both outlet and independent.

“Our hybrid model is constantly adapting, and we are proud of what we have done to make the retail future bright again.”

Several new and local independent businesses have moved into the centre including Garden World, Hauticulture and Quay Furniture.

Matt concluded: “We are already seeing a huge difference in the centre and things are moving at a lot faster pace than even I had planned.

“We have embraced fantastic local independents who have integrated with our established branded outlet stores and added unique leisure and hospitality to compliment them to create a visitor destination rather than just a visit to the shops.”

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