Meadowhall Shopping Centre's history: 35 years of Sheffield's landmark shopping centre

Yorkshire Post

4 months ago

Centre Director Darren Pearce reflects abck on the centre's 35th anniversary.

Transcript

00:00I mean, the whole world of shopping has changed since the very beginning.

00:02So if you think that 1990, if you reflect back to those years,

00:07we weren't open on Sundays, we had one late night.

00:10You know, the whole dynamic of shopping has changed to a 24-7 phenomena

00:15in terms of what the internet now does.

00:17And of course, moving all the way, you think,

00:19well, has Meadowhorstel retained its relevance over those 35 years

00:23with the anniversary coming up actually a week today?

00:25Well, it has, because the whole of that now is fused within this environment

00:29we embrace the online world, the dynamics of what people do,

00:33and they just do it very differently now.

00:35They can shop any time, day or night, but of course get things delivered here,

00:39try things on here, touch and feel them in the physical environment.

00:42But I think most importantly, in what hasn't been lost over the years,

00:46people want to be with people.

00:48They want that interaction.

00:49And today's an example of that in terms of what's happening.

00:52This is a virtual world, you know, a digital world coming to a physical environment

00:56and people want to be with people.

00:59They want those personalities, within these places as well.

01:03It's just incredible.

01:05What do you think the future is going to look like over the next 30 years?

01:09You know, I don't think this will change the fact that we want to have

01:13physical interactions with other people.

01:15I think the dynamics of the market will change.

01:18I think AI will have an influence in terms of what that does,

01:22in terms of influencing how we shop and what we do.

01:24But I think we'll never get away from the fact that we want to be with other people.

01:29An expansion of leisure, of food and beverage within this environment has been a phenomenon since COVID.

01:36So those trends I only see but expanding because people have got more flexibility about their lives,

01:42but they still want to come to physical places and have those sort of interactions.

01:46But I think the online world's been a great thing for shoppers.

01:50It's just given that flexibility.

01:52The centre is 35 years old and we're having the most incredible mural created by a guy called Luke Horton,

01:58which will go down the corridor as you enter the oasis.

02:00It'll be all along that wall.

02:02But I suppose a mural of all the different events and things that have happened both within Meadowhall and around the region.

02:08So that'll be a great touch point for people to look and reflect back over those 35 years.

02:14Of course, within the centre, we've got teams of people who've been here throughout the full time of the 35 years.

02:20And of course, we'll be celebrating with them as well.

02:23We have an amazing retail award that happens around Christmas, by the way.

02:26We have 800 retailers come to and they'll really embrace that whole feel of the birthday, along with being within Christmas.

02:33Of course, Christmas is coming as well.

02:35That's just around the corner now.

02:36We've got great new decorations coming this year, by the way, which you'll absolutely love.

02:41We've got a Cirque that comes into the environment where we've got performers coming from the ceiling, doing all sorts of performances.

02:48Outside, we've got an incredible grotto arriving with a circus event around that as well, which will be phenomenal.

02:55So there's lots of things to look forward to at Christmas, along with the obvious brands that have just landed like Sephora.

03:01We'll have Wingstop here, of course, and we've got loads more within the centre.

03:04So will it be a circus theme, the decor?

03:08Say again, sorry?

03:09Circus theme, the decor?

03:11It will be in certain parts.

03:13The new decorations, of course, will be here with us for about five years.

03:17They are spectacular, I can promise you that.

03:19They're made by a London agency that are involved with theatres and do theatre sets and lots of different things.

03:27So they've got real pizzazz about them.

Meadowhall Shopping Centre's history: 35 years of Sheffield's landmark shopping centre

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