Opinions.

October 2024

New Kid on the Retail Asset Management Scene

Chris Harris, the ex-John Lewis, Arcadia and Blockbuster, property director is set to shake-up the shopping centre asset management world with his new company Vedra, while commenting on the state of today’s market and his old firms.

By his own admission, Chris Harris is not shy of public opinion. During his time at John Lewis, Arcadia, and Blockbuster, he famously and successfully challenged landlords on standards in shopping centres, and was a huge advocate for change in the business rates system, attending select committees and influencing Government to make valuations more frequent and reducing the UBR. 

“I’ve been vocal on various topics in the past,” he says, alluding to the media blitz created when he publicly raised the issue of service charges and business rates in a career so far spanning 35 years, and that began at Chesterton International in 1989. 

Now he has launched Vedra, a real estate asset management business, focusing on shopping centres, with an aim to move them away from doppelgängers to tailor-made retail destinations, dedicated to what the actual customers want. In July he took on his first hire, Kerry Northfold, a retail heavy hitter, having been head of property with both Marks & Spencer and M&Co, following 17 years with Arcadia Group. 

It was last summer Harris decided to leave John Lewis, where he started as group property director in 2018, eventually becoming the lynchpin to the company’s move into BTR, to forge his own path.   

Harris’s issue was the lack of value offered to retailers given the standards in shopping centres. A year after he joined John Lewis, he took the decision in 2019 to withhold up to 20% of that charge: “I wouldn’t pay people because it was too high.”

“I did the same in Arcadia as we were getting poor value for money. It was our money landlords were spending, and I wanted them to work with us to put a real focus on it.” 

Another issue for Harris is ‘samey’ centres, and their management. To create a difference, Harris passionately believes in the opportunity to look at retail real estate through retailer’s eyes, to get a better understanding of how it can support the shoppers. This is the foundation for Vedra: “What I really want is a deep [knowledge] of the customer who shops in that centre.” 

Retailers today are also more sophisticated in how they look at real estate, he says, adding: “The market was moving that way anyway, with more flexibility in leases from 25 years to short leases, turnover leases, rolling breaks, meaning owners need to be more connected with their retailers to give customers what they want, so customers come and shop, and retailers trade successfully.” 

This change was pushed by numerous headwinds, including the rise of online shopping, Covid, Brexit and inflation “which have now been largely baked into valuations.” 

What will also set Vedra aside from other asset manager competitors is the team he is compiling, which will be led by senior ex-retailers with backgrounds in leading UK retail brands. Clients will benefit from Vedra’s extensive connections, and the new team, “will develop a strategy with customers in mind and a fast-paced delivery.”  

And given their collective backgrounds, Harris says: “We know what good customer service means and we intend to deliver it.” 

Overall, Harris is proud to be optimistic about the future, and what Vedra will do. “Many people think that shopping centres have had their day, but I one hundred percent don’t concur. In fact, I think the complete opposite. 

“The headwinds are largely behind us, and there’s been a lot of rebasing of values. At the right level there is demand, which demonstrates retailers do need physical space, and that’s coming from a retailer.”   

In May, Harris took on another role of non-executive director with INTU (SGS), owners of Lakeside, Atria Watford, Victoria Centre (Nottingham), and Braehead (Glasgow).

“Vedra is set up to be an asset manager, managing shopping centres, so it connects well with the role of SGS. As asset manager, you need to appoint leasing agents, property managers.” - where companies like GCW and its extensive expertise could eventually come into play. 

For now, the focus is on Vedra. With Northfold already on board, and further professionals set to join by the end of 2024, Harris is a man on a mission. “This is the thing I’m doing, that Vedra is doing, and its subtly different to anyone else, and that is listening, learning from customers, and working collaboratively with retailers to give their customers what they want and need, and thus creating a retail vibrant shopping experience.” 

Harris on

John Lewis Partnership.

(employed Feb 2018 – June 2023)

Following his five-year tenure at John Lewis, Harris has only positive things to say about the “amazing business.” 

“It’s owned in trust with the people who work for it, [who] care for the business like nowhere else you’ve ever worked. Its morals are high, its values are high, it tries to do things in the right way.” 

With so much of its business now online – nearly 60%, Harris says, there are still the large, aging department stores: “One of the challenges is how do you get return off capital investment into shops where they are taking significantly less than they were pre-Covid because those sales have moved online. It’s still a challenge that needs addressing.” 

But he adds: “It’s still a very strong, and very successful business, with customer service at its heart.” 

Arcadia.

Topshop, Burton, Dorothy Perkins

(employed Feb 2007 – Jan 2018)

When asked if he is surprised at Arcadia collapsing into administration, and whether it is a shame the names are missing from the high street, Harris says, “yes, and yes.” 

However, he says: “I could see the move to online happening, especially at Topshop, that was a very profitable business at its peak, but there was a huge shift online, particularly during Covid, when ASOS, and Boohoo took a lot of online market share. That has now started to correct itself though.”