“Although it is still too early to determine changes in customer behavior, our preliminary assessment after the first few weeks of the reopening is optimistic in terms of sales and inflows.”
“Now, ULI Europe’s latest report, ‘Reshaping Retail–Accelerating Change’, forecasts that the impact of Covid-19 will accelerate the restructuring of the retail property sector, even more so in the United Kingdom.”
Covid-19 has presented property owners and developers with unique challenges, and for Atterbury Europe that is compounded by having operations in three different territories: Romania, Cyprus, and Serbia. Asset manager Vlad Valcea gives some insights into the Company’s strategy.
Retail, from purpose-built shopping centers through to traditional high streets, has been facing long-term challenges, even before Covid-19. And the shift from single to multiple format offers, or mixed-use, is becoming firmly established.
Even though many things are changing in times of corona, the renovation of Quarree Wandsbek in Hamburg continues and even big stores with more than 800 sq m have reopened. Their product ranges already expanded, as “Kreativmarkt Hamburg” signed its new lease agreement in the middle of the crisis.
Has the decline in high street shopping brought about a new opportunity for flexible workspace operators to move into town centers and change the way we all work?
“The economic model of the outlet store is ideal in this period of uncertainty, as it is based on balanced and virtuous relations between brand retailers and property companies, by indexing income to results achieved by the points of sale.”
Shopping centers have been grappling with dwindling visitor numbers due to their online competition since before the coronavirus crisis. Now, many malls are facing an almost yawning emptiness. To ensure their survival, these shopping hotspots have to strike out in a new direction even faster than originally anticipated.
Covid-19 led to mobility restrictions throughout Europe, and the range of measures included the closing of shopping centers. In Estonia, where malls were closed for one and a half months, they have been reopened and visitor numbers are good, but it will take another three or four months to return to the former level, believes Guido Pärnits, CEO of the Ülemiste, the largest shopping center in Estonia.
Around two and a half months after the shutdown, the Covid-19 crisis still keeps the retail real estate and placemaking industry well and truly on its toes. Even though stores and marketplaces in many European countries have mostly reopened, dramatic declines in frequencies and revenues remain more of a rule instead of an exception.
In recent years, F&B has been hailed as the retail-centric development equivalent of a knight in shining armor; an offer that cannot be replicated online, that delivers customers an experience worth seeking-out and returning to time and again. The onset and impact of Covid-19 highlights the importance of a successful F&B strategy and the development of appealing F&B destinations that respond to how the customer of the future will shop day and night, and how mixed-use places are stitched together.
Corona is rapidly changing the world of retail. Shopping centers also experience these changes. Operators and tenants are facing far-reaching changes. Especially the severely affected fashion industry will accelerate these changes.
The need for marketing, centre operations and leasing teams to work together to help their destinations recover faster and stronger from the COVID-19 crisis is paramount. Coniq has written this practical how to guide following numerous conversions with clients and partners so your pre- and post- reopening plans are a huge success.
Business closures and rent losses in the coronavirus crisis have made banks even more cautious about retail properties and shopping centers. In the case of refinancing, portfolio holders have to calculate with higher interest rates and additional equity.
Recruitments, promotions and appointments...
“Outlets will probably have a longer recovery: domestic and foreign tourism usually contributes a lot to the total turnover.”
The shopping resort in Saint-Etienne with its about 70 shops and restaurant cannot open as planned due to the ongoing crisis.
An attempt to explain the current situation faced by retail tenants.
In light of the Covid-19 crisis, the management teams of several industry players express their solidarity with tenants and shareholders. The management board members of URW, Eurocommercial Properties, and Werelhave waive parts of their salaries or remunerations.
However, according to Otto Ambagtsheer, CEO of VIA Outlets, the way in which customers shop will change, at least on a temporary basis. For example, in some of the company’s markets, they will not be able to let guests try on clothes before they buy them, and clothes that are returned will need to be quarantined for three days.
