Retail space provider Sook continues UK expansion

Flexible retail pop-up space provider Sook has announced new partnerships with Hammerson and Rivington Hark, which will see the retail operator open three new spaces this summer in new UK locations.

The firm said its rapid expansion is a result of a “high customer demand for flexible retail space as occupiers demand greater flexibility to traditional leases in a continuing uncertain economic climate”.

Sook will take up flagship spaces in The Bullring in Birmingham and West Quay in Southampton with Hammerson, and at Victoria Gate, Leeds with Rivington Hark, expanding the firm’s property portfolio to ten.

The new alliances follow partnerships with Grosvenor, Legal and General, Derwent, Nuveen and Ingka, and its portfolio includes four spaces in London, including Oxford Street and Mayfair.

As well as four in London, Sook also has existing spaces in Edinburgh, Newcastle and Cambridge.

Sook founder and CEO John Hoyle, said: “These new alliances allow us to significantly expand our reach across the UK. Sook spaces give the next generation of innovative, independent high street retailers access to a flexible, hybrid retail model.

“Working this way reflects the clear changes in footfall habits and allows brands to experiment and expand their reach in bricks and mortar outlets via our fractional leasing model. “