The Czech retail has been performing well, shows Shopping Centre Index from CBRE monitoring the the last year. The positive trend has been significantly contributed by the growth of real wages supporting higher customer confidence together with the low level of inflation.
According to data from the Czech Statistical Office, real sales increased by 4.5% in 2024, reflecting a stable and optimistic development in the sector. Although the number of visitors to regional shopping centres is still below pre-COVID levels (by 7.4%), it grows by 1.2% year-on-year. "The slight increase in attendance also corresponds to the current findings of a customer survey, which revealed only slight changes in the frequency of visits and use of shopping centre services. Czechs most often visit them to buy food, approximately once or twice a week. Eating in a food court is still popular. Almost every second visitor to cafes uses the Starbucks and Costa Coffee chains, while the third most visited is McCafé. Buying clothes, shoes or accessories is still more of a monthly activity," describes Klára Bejblová, CBRE's expert in market research and retail consulting for the Czech Republic and the European region, adding that in a generational comparison, the frequency of visits is more frequent among the youngest age group from 18 to 25 years.
Looking at the individual quarters, Q1 2024 saw a 3% increase in visitor numbers. Although there was a 1% year-on-year decline in Q2 and visitor numbers stagnated in Q3, a gradual year-on-year increase was evident from September, culminating in a 3% growth in the last quarter. Similar to Western Europe, visitor numbers grew the most in experience-oriented shopping centres with a larger catchment area, which offer leisure activities in addition to shopping, services and gastronomy, by almost 3%. On the other hand, shopping centres in city centres experienced a slight decrease, specifically by 0.4%.
Occupancy in shopping centres has been very stable and at a high level for a long time. It ended last year at over 96%. "Fashion still occupies the largest space, accounting for 36% of the area. The second largest category is specialised retail with 14%, for example: opticians, pharmacies, health and beauty product stores, toys and books. Sports took third place with 12%," says Klára Bejblová and continues: "The most significant year-on-year growth was recorded in the area of household equipment and furniture, both in terms of share in the total area (by 6%) and in the number of tenants (by 5%)."
Rents in shopping centres increased approximately in line with the average rent indexation, i.e. by 3.5%. The most significant increase was recorded in experience shopping centres. From the point of view of product categories, costs increased the most in the gastronomy segment (by 10%) and electronics (by 8%). On the other hand, the lowest growth was recorded in the fashion segment, where rents increased by only 1%, which reflects the long-term pressure to reduce rental conditions in this sector.
The decrease in inflation resulted in a slowdown in the growth rate of turnover, which increased by almost 4% year-on-year on average, i.e. above the inflation rate.
