The Designer Outlet West Midlands is an

outlet shopping An outlet store, factory outlet or factory shop is a brick and mortar or online store in which manufacturers sell their stock directly to the public. Traditionally, a factory outlet was a store attached to a factory or warehouse, sometimes allowi ...

centre near

Cannock Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and ...

, Staffordshire, England. It is owned by McArhurGlen Group and is the company's 7th designer outlet in the UK. Permission was granted for the construction of the shopping centre in 2016 and work began in 2017. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, the opening of the centre was delayed from Autumn 2020 to early 2021. The centre officially opened to customers on Monday 12 April 2021.

Stores

The outlet consists of a range of designer brand stores offering clothing, beauty, homeware, gifts, and accessories at discounted prices. In January 2021 the centre was stated to be built and opened in two phases, with the first phase seeing the opening of around 80 stores along with a number of restaurants and cafes, and the second phase - to begin on or shortly after completion of the first - increasing the number of stores to around 130. As of November 2022, there were around 56 stores and 5 restaurants listed on the official website: Adidas, Asics, Beauty Outlet, Bedeck,

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Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, a ...

, Clarks, Clogau Gold,

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, The Cosmetics Company Store,

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. Contact Coffee Co.,

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and Slim Chickens.

Controversy

Sign

After completion of the buildings and car park. A sign was erected at the shopping outlet centre. However the sign was measured at being 50 ft tall and as a result. It dominates the skyline of Cannock and can be seen from further away. There have been many residents who have voiced their anger at the sign and one Councillor at

Cannock Chase Council Cannock Chase is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. Its council is based in the town of Cannock; other notable towns are Rugeley, Bridgtown and Hednesford. The district covers a large part of the Cannock Chase Area of O ...

has started a petition to have the sign either taken down or reduced in size However,

McArthurGlen McArthurGlen Group is a public company, which develops and manages designer outlet malls. Background McArthurGlen originated as a private company in North America, part of the Vancouver based McLean Group. It opened and ran factory outlet ...

who own the outlet have said they have legal permission to keep the sign in place as it was part of their original plans. Many locals have praised the style of the outlet, but have felt the sign is not in keeping with the local landscape and even exaggerated that it belongs in

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Name

There have been some criticism of the name being called the "Designer Outlet West Midlands" instead of it being named after Cannock or the county of Staffordshire.

Transport links

The shopping centre sits close to Cannock station on the

Chase Line The Chase Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs from its southern terminus, Birmingham New Street, to Walsall, and then Rugeley in Staffordshire, where it joins the Trent Valley Line. The name of the ...

with services to Birmingham International,

Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from , and vi ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

and Rugeley Trent Valley on the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

as well as occasional services to

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 United ...

. There are also regular buses which call into the three bus stops within the centre grounds. These run services to

Burntwood Burntwood is a former mining town and civil parish in the Lichfield District in Staffordshire, England, approximately west of Lichfield and north east of Brownhills. The town had a population of 26,049 and forms part of Lichfield distric ...

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west ...

Pye Green Pye Green is part of Hednesford, Staffordshire, England, running from Chadsmoor and Hednesford, across the Pye Green valley and to the edge of The Chase. It is situated between the A34 and A460 roads. The area consists mainly of mixed private an ...

Hednesford Hednesford (pronounced ) is a historic market town in the Cannock Chase district of Staffordshire, England. Cannock Chase is to the north, the town of Cannock to the south and Rugeley to the southwest.The population at the 2011 census was 17, ...

Brownhills Brownhills is a town and former administrative centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. A few miles south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is northeast of Walsall, a similar dista ...

Norton Canes Norton Canes is an industrial village, civil parish and ward of Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It is situated out of the centre of Cannock. At the 2001 census it had a population of 6,394, and an area of of which 86% is gr ...

and Birmingham. Service X51 (Cannock-Birmingham) is one of the few services which operate in Staffordshire on Sundays. Live departure screens are in situ at each stop for passenger information. The nearest airport is Birmingham International and further ones include

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those ...

and

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () north ...

References

{{reflist Outlet malls in England Shopping centres in Staffordshire