Milton Keynes mall centre:mk has announced a successful end to 2024 and start to 2025 and becomes just the latest big-name shopping centre to do so.

Malls have outperformed in recent periods and centre:mk, one of the top 10 prime retail destinations in the UK, said it has been exceeding footfall benchmarks across the UK since 2014. 

The first week of 2025 saw a 20% footfall rise, 10.8 percentage points ahead of high street destinations and 11.3 percentage points above the shopping centres sector in general. That underlines the inequality we’re seeing in shopping centre performance with the most prominent ‘supermalls’ bouncing back better than run-of-the-mill destinations.

The operator said the “promising” start to 2025 follows a “positive 2024 at the centre”. From 31 December 2023 to 28 December 2024, footfall there reached 21.4 million, finishing with a rise of 1.5% year-on-year which may not be huge but was 2.9 percentage points ahead of the UK benchmark. 

The destination saw over 6 million visitors in Q4, with 21 December its busiest day of the year. Interestingly, that day even beat Black Friday. 

The mall saw plenty of high-profile openings last year, including SpaceNK, Mint Velvet, Castore, Goldsmiths, and Office, as well as the important food and beverage brands that are also crucial to such destinations.

Centre direct Kevin Duffy also highlighted the mall’s footfall-to-spend conversion rate of over 95% last year.

As for the strategy to continue its performance into 2025, it’s planning to bring back some proven popular events such as Fashion Weekend, Handmade and Vintage Spring Extravaganza and The MK Job Show. It’s also the headline sponsor of the Milton Keynes International Festival with a range of activities in the destination linked to that.