Retail Birmingham

Retail Birmingham is the Business Improvement District (Retail BID) for Birmingham city centre’s retail area and has been working for its members since 2007. Retail BID was voted into term in November 2006 and successfully completed its first five year term by launching promotional campaigns and strategic projects to enhance the the retail core as a premier shopping destination.

On 11 November 2011, Retail BID was voted for a second five year term (BID2) following an independent ballot of its members. 74% voted in favour allowing Retail BID to continue to serve the retail community until 2017. Retail BID is led by a board comprising of representatives across the retail community in the city centre, including stakeholders. The work of Retail BID and business support is delivered by a small professional team, for contact details click here

Retail BID are full members of the industry body British BIDS  which focusses on establishing and maintaining quality services and standards for the Business Improvement District industry. More information about British BIDS is available here.

Retail BID will be going to a renewal ballot between 19 September & 27 October 2016 to obtain a mandate for its third term from 2017 to 2022. The next five years will be a crucial period for retailers to build on the success of Birmingham City Centre becoming a truly global destination for shopping and business.

To understand and consider the views and ideas of Retail BID members for the proposed third term, the team consulted with businesses in early 2016 to establish the key priorities for businesses which have informed the development of the BID business plan for the next five years.

The Retail BID has worked to serve the retail community through promoting, enhancing and developing the shopping, living and leisure experience in the city centre.

Whilst the retail environment is forever changing with the challenge of shopping online, Retail Birmingham firmly believe in the personal shopping experience delivered by retailers in the city centre. The BID has delivered promotional shopping campaigns throughout each year since 2007 together with delivering region-wide Christmas campaigns and establishing major retail events such as Style Birmingham Live and Celebration of Independents. All of the work has brought millions of shoppers into the city centre and maintained Birmingham’s position as the regional capital for shopping.

Birmingham city centre is currently seeing unprecedented levels of nearly £1Billion investment with the redevelopment of New Street Station, the extension of the Midlands Metro system which will connect Snow Hill Station to New Street and Grand Central Shopping Centre, plus the redevelopment of the new Mailbox and many new flagship stores at Bullring. The developments are creating thousands of new jobs in the city centre retail area and will help to continue to attract many millions of visitors to the city.

In September 2015 Birmingham became the only city centre outside of London to have all five main department stores, all within five minutes walk of each other when John Lewis joined Selfridges, House of Fraser, Harvey Nichols and Debenhams.

Since 2012, there has been a huge amount of transport infrastructure and major replacement utility works (gas and water mains) and public realm improvements within the city centre, some of which have been disruptive and created a challenging trading environment for retailers. Retail Birmingham has supported businesses throughout this period and given all city centre retailers, from the main stores to the independently owned shops, a united voice and successfully campaigned for appropriate compensation and rateable value reductions ensuring that ‘business as usual’ remains for its members, whilst also looking forward to a successful future for the retail and hospitality sectors in the city centre.