The Exchange Ilford is the main retail shopping mall in the town centre of Ilford, officially within the London Borough of Redbridge (though the postal county is historically given as Essex). It was owned by The Mall Fund for a period of time but has now been sold and reverted to its original name of The Exchange Mall. It trades from three levels of retail, though its architectural design layout has resulted in the lower floor of retail being separated into two parts, meaning customers wishing to access both parts of the lower level have to travel between the sections via the middle level. There is also an upper level of retail and food court facilities accessed from the middle level. Transit between levels is via a series of lifts, stairs and escalators within the Mall; in addition, some stores trade from two or more levels of the mall.
The Exchange’s anchor stores are Debenhams (formerly Allders), Marks & Spencer, TK Maxx and Wilkinson’s (the latter of which occupies a former Woolworths store). A new Primark store has opened adjacent to the Exchange.
Other major stores within The Mall Ilford include WH Smith, New Look, Sports Direct, Clinton Cards, Burger King, Ryman, Poundland, Peacocks, 99p Stores, The Body Shop, Thorntons and GAME. More stores are located just outside the Exchange, including an Argos, Waterstones and the recently opened Primark.
The design and layout of some of the stores is notable: the Marks & Spencer store is bisected by the Mall site: at ground level it is accessile from the High Road by its external doors either side of the Mall entrance, whilst on the middle level of the mall it is accessible from two entrances facing opposite each other (as in The Mall Bexleyheath). One of the two sides of M&S is also publicly accessible from the Upper level of the Mall. TK Maxx was initially two separate stores facing each other on opposite sides of the Mall, but this has more recently been changed, with the extension of TK Maxx across the mall area to create a single unified store, in effect splitting the lower mall into three segments, with a third section around the Cranbrook Road entrance (by Wilkinson) which is now separated from the other main part of the lower mall by TK Maxx.
Past architectural features of the mall were a, now defunct, granite floating sphere and a wishing fountain.
The centre is accessible by car, with access to parking via Havelock Street and Ley Street. The centre is also served by the numerous Transport for London bus services which serve central Ilford.
In 2012, it was reported that the centre is owned by the London-based Dutch privately-held real estate investment company Meyer Bergman.
