St James Quarter - One Year On

One year on since the opening of its first phase, St James Quarter - Edinburgh’s largest development in a generation – has brought many firsts to Scotland including & Other Stories, The Botanist and H Beauty, with the likes of SushiSamba and Duck & Waffle still to come.

The development has had a transformative effect on the capital and the arrival of a boutique Everyman Cinema alongside popular leisure brands like Lane7 and TOCA Social will greatly boost the area's night time economy.  St James Quarter is already the centre piece for the city’s distinctive offer and the development's first phase, an 850,000 sq ft retail galleria, houses brands including, Zara, Mango, Bershka, H&M, Next, Calvin Klein, Reiss, BOSS and Coach along with an enticing mix of restaurants and bars including Ka Pao and The Alchemist, anchored by a 16,000 sq ft Bonnie & Wild food hall.   

Since opening, St James Quarter has outperformed expectations with beauty, F&B and women’s fashion outperforming expectations by double digits and some brands are trading at levels above all other global stores, demonstrating that St James Quarter is the first of a new kind of retail destination.

With the retail elements of the scheme trading well for the past year, we’re now excitedly looking forward to the next big stages of the project which will include the centre piece of the development, a 244 room W Edinburgh hotel, as well as residential elements, as we continue to progress one of the most significant city centre transformations currently underway in the UK.    

St James Quarter is far from complete, but with the next phase of the development already well underway, this new lifestyle quarter for Edinburgh is already establishing itself as the centre piece for the city’s distinct offer with the scheme looking to deliver an unrivalled guest experience by providing customers with an enviable programme in a range of new and attractive public spaces.