ARTICLES LABELLED WITH TAG shopping

The footfall in Czech regional shopping centres remained almost unchanged despite the previous years of the pandemic and all the lockdowns. The turnover and the average basket increased, and the vacancy is stable. However, due to the 18-week lockdown, the year 2021 fell behind 2019 by about 15%. The biggest concern now comes from the inflation and spending cuts reported by CBRE in its regular Shopping Centre Index analysis together with the results of two surveys on customer behaviour and expected plans of retailers.

Bratislava's Aupark shopping centre, owned by Wood & Company and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, is adding another step to improve its sustainable management. In addition to sorting, low-energy lighting and water conservation, it is now installing hundreds of photovoltaic panels on its roof. The owners are hoping to make significant savings in energy resources, most notably saving 100,000 cubic metres of natural gas per year, reports the online daily Reality.trend.sk.

CPI Property Group is going into large-scale renovations of shopping centres to reduce costs and improve food courts. The Nisa shopping centre in Liberec is to undergo extensive reconstruction for a cost of CZK 1 billion. The Futurum shopping centre in Hradec Králové is to be modernised at a cost of CZK 200 million. This is another of the planned modernisations of shopping centres to make them more attractive to customers and bring higher profits, reports the daily E15.

Most customers no longer visited shopping centres for traditional shopping purposes only, a non-representative survey conducted by Indotek Group revealed.

The end of April marks one year since the announcement of the acquisition of the Aupark Bratislava shopping centre.  The actual change in the shareholder structure took place on 27 May 2021, after the financial and investment group Wood & Company bought a stake in Aupark from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW). The acquisition, worth a total of €450 million, has been hailed as the largest real estate transaction in Slovakia's history up to this date. The real estate fund AUP Bratislava, which was established in connection with the transaction, announced the amount of revenues for the year 2021.

The former EuroCenter was transformed into a modern shopping centre with a leasable area of ​​25,000 sqm, accommodating 100 stores and a service function.

Property group NEPI Rockcastle, the biggest owner of shopping centres in Romania, has purchased a land plot of 17 hectares Galați for an undisclosed sum. 

Romanian developer Iulius will invest €40 million to expand the Iulius Mall Suceava project with 14,000 sqm in a bid to add new retailers as well as leisure and food operators. 

The Czech retail market and physical retail segment remain attractive for retail brands, as the arrival of 38 new international brands last year confirms: this is the highest number in the last three years. This means a 52% year-on-year increase over the 25 new brands arriving in 2020, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

CBRE has appointed Carmen Ravon as Head of Retail Occupiers for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in a bid to consolidate operations in the region.