The Shopping Centre industry is driven by people. It’s the skills and expertise of the people that manage, develop and evolve shopping centres for their communities that creates this great industry. Shopping Centre News profiles a range of interesting people from the industry each week. This week, we speak to Gabrielle Briggs, Associate Director for the ISPT Portfolio in the Colliers Retail Management business.
What is your current role and main responsibilities?
Portfolio Manager, ISPT (IRAPT) Portfolio NSW, ACT and QLD, for Colliers International, overseeing 15 neighbourhood centres across NSW, Canberra and Queensland’s Gold Coast.
How did you get in to this industry?
I grew up in a retail and real estate family so combining the two together with a love of shopping was always going to be a natural progression.
Can you tell us a little bit about your career?
My first role in the property industry was as the Main Street Tourism Manager of Corowa and Rutherglen, then eight years as a Marketing Manager at Westfield followed by stints at Lend Lease and QIC on redevelopment and stabilisation of super regional shopping centres across Australia. I joined Savills as a Centre Manager then moved onto Terrace Tower Group. I have been with Colliers International for the past eight years, including five years on the NSW Primewest large format and retail properties portfolio.
What has been your hardest career decision?
Moving from a marketing role of an iconic super regional to a centre manager with a small team. A hard decision at the time, but it was the catalyst for personal and professional growth.
What are some of the trends you are seeing in the industry?
There is no doubt that COVID-19 has fast-tracked the growth of online shopping but it has been really interesting to witness some bricks-and-mortar retailers pivot and re-create themselves to re-establish themselves as relevant in a new way.
The Ponds Shopping Centre
What do you love most about your job?
The diversity of my day – no two days are ever the same and people rarely do what you expect them to.
What do you least like about your job?
When a retailer doesn’t succeed.
What motivates you?
Seeing a team member grow their skillset and take the next step in their career.
What makes a great Portfolio Manager?
A genuine desire to want to help people grow their career and someone who works on the business not in the business.
What is your most memorable moment of your career?
Organising a banner across six lanes of the Nepean Highway for the launch of Westfield Southland in 2000.
What do you think makes a successful shopping centre?
A place with the community at the heart of the centre – a place with purpose.
How can landlords and retailers work together better?
Both need to see and respect the viewpoint of the other.
Dee Why Grand, NSW
What’s three words that describe you?
Curious, passionate and empathetic.
How do you manage stakeholders?
Listen to their needs, reflect back and deliver what you say you will.
Did you think you would end up in the role you are in now?
No, but loving every minute.
What do you do to keep learning and growing in your career?
I read everything I can get my hands on about retail and I visit as many styles of retail precincts as I can. I tell my husband that the total on the credit card represents research.
What advice would you give to someone starting in the industry?
Shopping centres are dynamic, not for those with a fragile ego and working in a shopping centre is a lifestyle rather than a job.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to get in to Shopping Centre Management?
Dive in, ask lots of questions but do more listening than talking.
What’s your favourite retailer and why?
A confectionery retailer called Captain Candy in the Old Town of Dubrovnik, Croatia – such abundant presentation, colour explosion and a sugar overload.
Captain Candy in the Old Town of Dubrovnik, Croatia
What do you do in your leisure time to de-stress?
Watch my children play sport and pretend that I have somehow contributed to their skill.
Do you like shopping?
Shopping is my greatest skill.
Have you worked in another industry and then come back to shopping centres?
No, I am a property purist however I did have a short career doing PR and snow reports for Mt Blue Cow Ski Resort, now part of Perisher, when I first left university.
What is the single most important quality you need to possess to be in this industry?
The desire to make a difference.
Want to be profiled? It’s the perfect time to share your career and experience which connects all of us. Contact Belinda Daly: belinda@shoppingcentrenews.com.au
