St Pancras shops see bumper trading Christmas figures

 
Royal grocer: sales rose almost 50 per cent at the St Pancras branch of Fortnum & Mason (Picture: Alex Lentati)
Alex Lentati

The growing reputation of St Pancras as a shopping mall “with a station attached” has been given a boost by bumper Christmas trading figures.

The 30 stores at the Eurostar terminal saw sales soar almost 25 per cent over the festive season compared with 2013. Even if the impact of newly opened shopping space is stripped out, the underlying rise over the five weeks to December 27 is 16.4 per cent.

Star performers at “the cathedral of the railways” included the 2,000 sq ft outlet of Fortnum & Mason, where sales were up almost 50 per cent.

Shopping hub: St Pancras station (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)

Fortnum’s chief executive Ewan Venters said: “We were amazed by the sheer volume of classic Christmas fare — puddings, crackers, brandy butter, mince pies and so on — we sold. We were slightly surprised it wasn’t more obvious gifts like boxes of chocolates.”

The bumper trading came at the end of a year that saw the opening of the first branch of a John Lewis at a station.

St Pancras was once a spectacular but dreary terminal for services from Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield where the shopping consisted of little more than a branch of WH Smith.

But it has been transformed into one of Europe’s most glamorous transport hubs — with its longest champagne bar — since Eurostar services to Paris and Brussels moved there from Waterloo in 2007. Around 48 million people use the station each year — of which a quarter do not travel but come to shop or eat.

The lower level, where beer barrels from the Burton breweries were once stored, has become a mall with brands including fashion labels Cath Kidston and Fat Face, scents specialist Jo Malone and chocolate maker Godiva.

Wendy Spinks, commercial director of St Pancras’s operator HS1, said: “These Christmas figures reflect a tremendous year for retail at St Pancras and highlights the station’s appeal as a quality shopping destination in its own right.”

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A number of the outlets today launched an app called StP that will send tailor-made offers to the mobile devices of passengers and shoppers as they wander round, as well as travel information. Robin Bevan, director of retail analysts Javelin Group, said: “Our research with HS1 shows just how significant the role played by impulse purchasing is at St Pancras International.”

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