Hines, the international real estate firm, has secured fashionable footwear retailer Irregular Choice and technical apparel brand lululemon for The Royal Exchange Manchester.

Irregular Choice, a unique footwear brand will be moving into 18 Market Street this September, taking 928 square feet on a 10-year lease.  Led by charismatic entrepreneur Dan Sullivan, Irregular Choice makes detailed and creative shoes featuring everything from embellished heels, ornate wood carvings, tiny intricate charms and lavish fabrics through to Disney-themed creations.

Irregular Choice has a global portfolio of nine stores which are famed for their equally lavish décor, such as the famous London Carnaby shop with mirrored mannequins and a flashing rainbow staircase.

lululemon, the technical apparel brand for yoga, running, training and other active pursuits, is due to open its new store on 7 St Ann’s Square this autumn. Founded in Vancouver, Canada in 1998, lululemon is the brand defining an active, mindful lifestyle—creating design-led products that empower people to live a life they love. In addition to offering the brand’s latest collections for men and women, the retail space will transform into a studio, offering complimentary classes to the local community, led by lululemon’s yoga and fitness ambassadors.

Additionally, fresh handmade cosmetics company, Lush has signed a 10-year lease renewal for their 909-square-foot shop at 10 Market Street.

The new stores join an impressive line-up of retailers based at The Royal Exchange Manchester including Molton Brown, Fjallraven, L’Occitaine, Whittards, Hotel Chocolat, French Connection, and Watches of Switzerland.

Emme Haycock, asset manager for Hines UK, said: “The quality of these latest lettings reflects our repositioning strategy to further strengthen and enhance the calibre of brands available at this iconic building. The Royal Exchange Manchester continues to attract an exciting range of retail talent and we are pleased to be welcoming lululemon and Irregular Choice into the mix.”

The Royal Exchange Manchester sits in the heart of the city centre and is populated by luxury high-street brands, independent boutiques shops, cafes and restaurants, as well as being home to the Royal Exchange Theatre.

Hines acquired The Royal Exchange Manchester in November 2016 on behalf of Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), Germany’s largest pension scheme group. This letting is part of Hines’ strategy to reposition the tenant mix to reinforce the Grade II listed Royal Exchange building as a prestigious location in Manchester’s retail landscape.

Hines was represented by Metis and Colliers, Irregular Choice was represented by Culverwell, and Lush were advised by Colliers.

A senior designer who accepted redundancy three years ago is celebrating after his start-up business completed its first full year of trading, increasing turnover from £50,000 to nearly £200,000 in the process.

Paul Grogan set up Think Design Manchester after freelancing for nearly two years, travelling across the country to work with clients such as Amazon, Balfour Beatty and global seismology business Guralp.

Now the team, based on Turks Road in Radcliffe, is four-strong and looking forward to the next year of working with clients across the North West, ranging from restaurants to construction and offering services such as website building and design to branding, photography and digital strategy.

As the company’s founder, Paul believes that by combining his years of design experience with an out-of-city location is the recipe to Think Design’s success in its first year.

“We set up the office in Radcliffe, away from the hustle and bustle of Manchester. This gives us an affordable base and allows us to keep our overheads in check and, as a result, our costs are slightly more affordable than our Manchester counterparts,” he explained.

“Also, having commuted to Manchester for 18 years, I wanted to stay local and use the time saved on commuting to work on the business and have more time with my kids.”

After the first year of trading increasing the company’s turnover from £50,000 to nearly four times that – despite the difficult economic environment – Paul is now looking forward to the next twelve months and what they could bring for the company.

“I’d love to get the team up to six people, increase the turnover again and maybe win some awards, but most importantly, we want to keep winning new work and keep our standards high, and customers happy,” he said.

“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved already. We have a proven track record of providing a substantial ROI for our clients and I’m especially proud of a new global business choosing to work with us because they wanted to work with the “best of the best”. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

Around a thousand people attended this year’s Venturefest North West 2018, providing further evidence of the region’s place as a leading centre for innovation.

The event, the biggest in five years, was held at Manchester Central and was organised by GC Business Growth Hub, part of The Growth Company.

Former Altrincham Grammar School pupil Priya Lakhani OBE hosted the event and highlighted in her opening remarks that start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs are the businesses best-placed to innovate. The founder of CENTURY Tech went on to say that innovation is a mindset, and that in her opinion, businesses can fail because they aren’t committed to solving customer issues.

Priya’s speech was followed by a presentation by Jenny Tooth OBE, CEO of UK Business Angels Association. Jenny outlined her background as an angel investor and explained to businesses looking for investment how the angel investment market worked.

Mike Anderson, CEO of Padoq, and founder of digital agency Nothing But Epic, was the final speaker of the morning session. He told delegates that winning the Innovation Showcase competition at Venturefest 2016 was key to the success of the Padoq concept.

At the centre of this year’s event was the annual Innovation Showcase Competition, which was open to start-up and scale-up businesses from across the region. Twelve companies had been shortlisted from more than 170 entries across four categories – Product Innovation, Service Innovation, Digital Innovation and Innovative Established Business – in front of this year’s audience, in the hope of securing business support package worth thousands of pounds and national visibility.

Following an impressive and informative set of pitches that demonstrated the outstanding level of innovation across a range of sectors in the region, the Innovation Showcase awards were won by the following:

Product Innovation – Reach and Rescue Ltd

Service Innovation – Urban Chain Ltd

Digital Innovation – Corporation Pop

Innovative Established Business – Whitham Mills Engineering Ltd

Reach and Rescue was declared the Overall Winner of the Innovation Showcase Competition, while Telcom won the Audience Award voted on by hundreds in attendance.

Jo Taylor, business owner at Reach and Rescue, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won the overall award and the Product Innovation category. It shows how our company’s innovation can save lives, and I’d like to congratulate every individual person who has been involved in the product.”

Richard Jeffery, director of GC Business Growth Hub, added: “It’s fantastic to see record numbers of people coming to this year’s Venturefest.

“The atmosphere around Manchester Central today has been buzzing. In addition to the enlightening speeches, we’ve also witnessed some very impressive pitches as part of the Innovation Showcase, and I’m delighted for all the winners.

“Our advice clinics, breakout sessions and expert panels have also been of the highest quality, and the whole event has epitomised the creativity, innovation and ambition that define our region.

“Venturefest North West symbolises what GC Business Growth Hub is all about; bringing businesses together, sharing expertise and stimulating economic growth through innovation and collaboration.”

After nine successful years with pro-manchester, Dr John Ashcroft has announced he is set to step down as pro-manchester chief executive this September.

Since John’s appointment in 2008, the business development organisation, based in Spinningfields has gone from strength to strength, now boasting over 100 events a year and nearly 300 members.

Of his time in the organisation, John said: “It has been an honour, a pleasure and always great fun to be involved with pro-manchester. We have made great progress as an organisation and I am now delighted to hand over to Sam Booth and the executive team to take the organisation on to the next exciting stage of development.

“I would like to thank all the stakeholders in pro-manchester for the opportunity to work in this great city of ours over the last nine years.

“I will now be taking the opportunity to develop my own business interests in economics, strategy and financial market analysis. This will also be a great opportunity to consider new roles and new challenges in many different markets.”

Of John’s resignation, deputy CEO, Sam Booth said: “It has been a pleasure to work with John over the last nine years. I have learnt a lot from him and look forward to continuing our professional relationship as we now look ahead to the next chapter of pro-manchester.

“John’s drive and vision has been a fundamental part of making pro-manchester the excellent organisation that it is today. On behalf of the team, we would like to thank him for his contribution and wish him well in his future endeavours.”