Time Out Group откроет первый флагманский рынок в Лондоне в 2028 году

Time Out Group (TOG) announced plans earlier this month to open a global flagship Time Out Market in London – marking the brand’s return to the city where Time Out was founded as a print magazine in 1968. The brand ceased physical publication in 2022 due to falling readership. Since then, it has focused on digital publishing and food market operations, creating what it describes as a unique food and cultural market concept. Since launching the first Time Out Market in Lisbon in 2014, the concept has expanded across four continents, now operating 13 markets that welcome more than 12 million visitors annually. Now, in partnership with The Crown Estate, it plans to open its first London site at the landmark 10 Piccadilly development in summer 2028. By the time the London venue opens, it is expected to be the 18th or 19th Time Out Market worldwide. Property Week sat down with chief executive Chris Öhlund to learn more about the group’s plans for the London site and future global expansion. The Time Out Market concept is more than 10 years old. Why did it take so long to open in London? We never tried to avoid London. There were some attempts pre-Covid for a site in Waterloo and another in Spitalfields. At one point, we were even looking at Brixton. But there was never the right site, or some sort of procedural or licensing issues got in the way. It’s going to be more than just a foodhall. It’s going to be more experiential The long wait has been about getting the right location. Truly, in this business, location is everything. You must be in the right place, and we looked at many sites that were good, but not first class. With The Crown Estate, we have a partner who is in this for the long run, so the set-up is perfect. The first question any partner or potential partner will ask is: “If this is so great, why don’t you have anything in London – that is where your home is, isn’t it?” Now you can’t just have anything in London. That could be counterproductive. What you must have is the right place. I think the location that we have been fortunate to sign for is one of the top three locations in the world. What makes 10 Piccadilly the right location for Time Out Market’s London flagship? It’s a fantastic modern site that opens up to Piccadilly Circus with a massive 74 million visitor footfall – one of the busiest locations in the world. You have significant amounts of tourists, which means you can expand your brand awareness beyond the locality, and you can reach hundreds of different nationalities and introduce them to the brand. It’s going to be more than just a foodhall. It’s going to be more experiential and share in the culture of the city with music, events, performances and family days. This site can host all of that. This site is perfect as visitors, when they leave, will say “wow, that is special – that doesn’t exist anywhere else”. How is TOG using different partnership models to fuel its growth, and how did the agreement with The Crown Estate come about? We use management agreements and franchise agreements to expand globally. We have to be aligned with The Crown Estate in terms of what it is that we want to bring to the site. When we first met with them a couple of years ago at MAPIC, we discussed how our concept is different to standard foodhalls: we only accept unique food offerings that truly bring out the talent of a city – you won’t find a KFC in there – and they [The Crown Estate] were on board 100%. London has so much to offer and we want to show that to everyone. For The Crown Estate, it makes sense as they benefit from their development delivering a unique offering for the city. What are the long-term expansion ambitions for Time Out Markets, over the next five and 10 years? It’s more about where we can add real value, rather than just expanding for the sake of having more locations. It has to be the right partnerships, so we are looking for partners that will either do a management agreement with us or a licensing or franchise agreement. We’re expanding into Delhi, India, this year as well as São Paulo, Brazil, so we are a truly global brand – but there are places we have eyes on. Apart from São Paulo, the entire Latin America region is empty for us. There’s nothing else on the map. We still have opportunities in Europe, without a doubt. The US still offers opportunities, too. So while I can’t give specifics yet, there are still places we want to go from a geographic perspective.