Luxury chocolatier, Hotel Chocolat has selected Woking Shopping's Peacocks Centre in Woking, Surrey, for its latest 320 sq ft site.
Due to open on 13 September, the store will be designed by an in-house team and offer Hotel Chocolat’s sought-after ‘Ice Cream of the Gods’, currently only available at select range of locations.
The signing bolsters Woking Shopping’s evolving food and beverage offering, which also includes Côte, Bill’s, Carluccio’s, Las Iguanas and Loungers.
Angus Thirlwell, CEO and Co-founder of Hotel Chocolat, said, “We have closely followed Woking Shopping’s progress for a number of years and the time is right to join the centre’s thriving offer.
'Woking Shopping is going from strength-to-strength, whilst the Victoria Square development adds a significant and exciting new dimension.
'We look forward to bringing our passion for world-class chocolate to the town and are confident our indulgent offering will be well received.”
Cllr David Bittleston, Leader of Woking Borough Council, commented, “As we continue with our town centre regeneration, Woking is fast becoming a destination of choice for premium brands. We’re very proud that Hotel Chocolat has chosen Woking to open its latest store, which will add to our exciting retail and restaurant offer.”
Tim Buckley of Moyallen, Asset Manager for the Peacocks Centre, added, “Hotel Chocolat is a great addition to Woking Shopping. Securing this renowned brand reflects our long-term objective to create a destination with appeal to our discerning catchment population.”
The signing coincides with the ongoing construction of Victoria Square development, which includes 125,000 sq ft of new retail floorspace anchored by a 50,000 sq ft Marks & Spencer store and 27,000 sq ft Boots; 429 residential apartments in two towers of 30 and 34 storeys; 1,570 new car parking spaces; two new public plazas; and 189-room four-star Hilton Hotel.
Woking Shopping serves a catchment of 1.1m people with an available spend of £2.6bn. 41% of Woking’s catchment are from CACI’s ‘Affluent Achievers’ Acorn profile, compared to 31% for the South East. Upon completion of Victoria Square, Woking’s market potential will increase by 11% to £226m.