(2 Jul 2012) LEADIN
British business is hoping to score Olympic gold.
But retail analysts are warning there are potential losers as well as winners on the high streets during the Games.
STORYLINE:
The race is on to make a fast buck out of the Olympic Games - and the clock is ticking with just days left to the big event.
After years of preparation the opening ceremony to one of the world's biggest sporting events gets underway this month (July 27th 2012).
Westfield is Europe's biggest urban shopping centre and it sits cheek by jowl next to the Olympic Park.
It opened last autumn, just in time for Christmas and with the Olympics in mind.
It boasts of bringing the glamorous West End of London to the run down east.
Omega is the official Olympic timekeeper.
Its shops rarely venture far from Bond Street, home to the cream of London's high end jewellers and fashion retailers.
Although, unlike Bond Street, everything here has a price tag.
Retailers are hoping these Olympic mascots will be lucky for them as well as the athletes.
That anticipation is shared by businesses throughout the UK.
Drumming up business means getting people out shopping.
Westfield's director of development, John Burton, says sheer numbers put the centre in a winning spot and he's confident of a good performance despite the recession which continues to bite European consumers.
He says: "With nearly three quarters of all the people who will come into Olympics to watch events here, they literally walk through the streets of the shopping centre, so to say that our retailers aren't excited would be wrong."
But a successful Olympics could have the effect of keeping people at home watching television.
Burton accepts that businesses are going to have to raise their game if they are to cash in.
He says: "What they've got to do now is to convince their regular shoppers to keep coming, obviously, but also they've got to turn on a great show, they want to turn on good food, they want to turn on good entertainment."
Westfield talks generally about growth of six to seven per cent over the next year, but most individual businesses are reticent about pronouncements about Olympic related increases in sales.
Analysts like Nicole Parker Hodds from Planet Retail says not everyone will benefit.
"Retailers in London are definitely going to benefit more than those elsewhere as the influx of tourists come in. I think heritage retailers such as Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum and Mason's will definitely benefit the most and I think grocery retailers are going to benefit from the UK consumers, as they stay inside to watch the main events a lot of them will have their family over, or friends over and therefore will want, you know, alcohol, party food, barbeques and that's where they'll mainly be spending."
According to Parker Hodds, regional retailers who rely on spending from tourism might not get a share of the cash being spent in London.
One of the biggest factors governing whether people will venture out is the weather.
In Britain it's famously temperamental and this year has been no exception.
With summer just starting Britons have already experienced drought, deluge and the odd spring heatwave.
Music festivals have been flooded and even the Queen's diamond jubilee got a soaking.
Summer outfits here involve umbrellas, rubber boots and waterproofs as well as sunglasses, skimpy T-shirts and shorts.
Stormy weather at recent trial event at the Olympic Park have boosted the coffers of businesses like Ellis Brigham, a British company specialising in outdoor leisure.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
