Sports Direct buys Brookfield Shopping Park at cut rate

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 21, 2019

He may have faced major challenges with some of his acquisitions but Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley is continuing to buy businesses he thinks will help his overall company to grow and has just added a retail park to his empire.

He has completed the £25.4 million purchase of Brookfield Shopping Park in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and he seems to have bagged a bargain, linked to the troubled state of the UK retail sector, with the price being just a third what the previous owner, JP Morgan Asset Management, paid only four years ago, The Telegraph reported.

We have no information as to how the location has been performing, but we have to assume that it’s had some challenges, although the 93,000sq ft site does have the advantage of being part of a retail park sector that’s performing better overall than UK high streets and shopping centres. 

Sports Direct’s head of elevation Michael Murray said the company is “already working hard on plans to breathe new life into” the location. The company said it believes in physical retail and plans to “transform this retail park into a modern, aspirational shopping destination for the local area.”

It hasn’t said whether that will include opening branches of its own chains there, such as Sports Direct, Flannels, Agent Provocateur or Jack Wills. The retail park currently has stores operated by Next, Clarks, River island, Boots and Argos, as well as major Sports Direct rival JD Sports.