Commercial property: lease of a store built for Woolworths in Southwick sold to a property investment company

Currently occupied by Yun Feng Foods, the large retail unit in Southwick Square was originally built for FW Woolworth.

Flude Property Consultants (FPC) was commissioned to market the long lease and soon received several offers. He has now finalized the sale to a real estate investment company.

The building occupies a prominent corner position with accommodation spread over two floors. It currently operates as a Chinese supermarket, and Yun Feng Foods’ lease is unaffected by the sale.

Will Thomas, Director of FPC, said: “This is a great example of local investors’ appetite for out-of-town investment opportunities, which has improved significantly since the emergence of Covid.

“Investor confidence has increased along with the number of requests from potential tenants for such spaces. Many of these local parades currently have low vacancy rates and have seen an increase in attendance, which may be partly due to people shopping more locally and working from home more than ever before.

It was noted that the overall brick and mortar retail footprint on high streets was shrinking, but that market conditions for the sale of commercial property investments were generally good.

FPC said the sale of 18 Southwick Square was proof there was still a place for bricks and mortar retail for some time to come.