Property Board Game Concept Fills Empty Property

The makers of Monopoly have teamed up with a theatre company to create a live version of the famous board game that will see a former flagship retail store repurposed into a new use. 

Sellardoor Worldwide has taken a license from Hasbro to create a four-storey immersive Monopoly gaming experience in a 23K SF former Paperchase store on Tottenham Court Road in the West End, CoStar reported.

There will be two life-sized Monopoly boards that players can walk around and buy up London streets. If players “go to jail” then they head to an escape room — an experiential retail concept within an experiential retail concept that is itself a microcosm of the property investment world. Meta. There will also be bars and restaurants as part of the offer. 

The building is owned by the Corporation of London. Stationary retailer Paperchase has been struggling for some years, having undertaken a CVA in 2019. Private equity firm Permira bought it in a pre-pack administration in January of this year and closed 35 of the company’s 125 stores, including that one on Tottenham Court Road. 

Owners of retail buildings on Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street are trying to move more into the experiential retail world to fill some of the big holes being left by the department stores and flagship units that have become vacant, particularly as a result of the coronavirus. Crazy golf concept Swingers opened in the former BHS store on Oxford Street in 2018, and in 2019 a Market Halls food court opened across the road but shut permanently as a result of the pandemic. 

House of Fraser opened an esports venue in its basement before lockdown closed the store last year, and Selfridges opened a boxing gym in its basement to pull in the crowds.

Kenningham Retail advised the Corporation of London, and Belchak Corin advised Selladoor Worldwide.