TK Maxx moving in to Royal Mail Arena Premises

Following the success of their Wood Green Branch, TK Maxx are planning to open a new store in Harringay.

With the vacant space created in the Arena Retail by the departure of the Royal Mail, TK Maxx have reached agreement with Arena's owners, Coal Pension Property Ltd, to occupy the former Royal Mail space and to add a mezzanine floor to it. This will create a store of just under 24,000 square feet (2,200 Sq m), which is just under 15% of the total retail space at the Arena shopping Park. 

"Big Labels, Small Prices" store TK Maxx opened in 1994 and is part of TJX Companies, which also owns Homesense and Marshalls. In October 2011 it had 261 stores across the UK and Ireland. The company claim that a typical store has 50,000 items in stock and receives about 10,000 new items a week.

In a recent mini poll by The Guardian newspaper, TK Maxx was the overwhelming favourite in in a face-off with bargain basement competitor Matalan. TK Maxx took 68% of the 1,169 votes compared with Matalan's 18%.

One survey respondent commented:

"Had some fantastic bargains in TK Maxx on homewares. Dartington crystal decanters and jugs typically down from £70-£80 to £10-£15. Great for gifts (especially if you "accidentally" leave the original maker's price on). Good deals on Tefal, Le Creuset etc."

I'm not sure TK Maxx would be my first choice as tenant for the premises, but with John Lewis unlikley to move in, I guess I'll have to welcome the opportunity of bagging some bargain basement clothes and Homeware

Good for the Area?

Under the banner LCSP, local resident Ian Sygrave has submitted an objection to the planning application because of the loss of the Royal Mail Sorting office which is part of the whole change.

For my part, I'm hoping that the planning committee will take a very careful look at the impact that a store of this size will have on traffic. Opening a TK Maxx isn't just adding 15% more retail space, it's adding 24,000 square feet of retail space that will likely be very well used.

Have the Council required a transport impact study to be done? Remember how they totally missed this when Sainsbury's expanded? Remember the chaos the ensued?

A travel plan submitted by the former Arena owners in 2007 prior to the opening of Fitness First estimated that retail space generates six times the traffic than that generated by leisure activities such as a gym. 

The current planning application from the Arena landlord says:

The application premises are located in a sustainable location with good public transport links located in close proximity to the site. In addition there is a large resident catchment population thereby enabling local residents to either walk or cycle to the application premises.

Really? I wonder what proportion of their customers will live in walking distance and how many will cycle? Has anyone calculated the likely extra number of car trips it will generate on local roads? 

So, a cautious welcome to TK Maxx, but I'd like some reassurance that this time round the traffic impact is being properly looked at and the Council aren't sleep walking their way in to this again.