Galery

1

Times of profit are coming for the big shopping centres that open despite the crisis and continue to operate. They not only have a minimal reduction in turnover compared to the size of the Greek economic crisis, but also sprang up like mushrooms in the last year. The turnover of malls and large shopping centres in 2010 dropped by less than 10% when the decline of small retailers was 40%, reports Marketing Week.

An example of the birth of new opportunities for large investors in times of crisis is the outlet village McArthurGlen Design Outlet Athens. It was built near the Athens airport Elevteros Venizelos, took over 100 million euros in funding and opened more than a thousand jobs.

McArthurGlen Group Holding is the investor in Spata and owns 19 shopping centres across Europe, which attract 75 million customers annually. The main advantage of the complex is not only its convenience and architecture but also the low prices, ranging between 35% and 70% of the initial prices of the branded goods it offers.

Another mall that is not "afraid" of the restrictive measures and the strict economic policy in Greece and last year boldly opened its doors in Athens is Athens Metro Mall at the metro station of Agios Dimitrios. The opening of the mall was in early November 2010 and whether because of the coming Christmas holidays or due to its strategic location, the new shopping centre attracted 15% more customers than the most optimistic investor expectations.

River West and Athenian Capitol are two other shopping centres that were born in 2010. River West was strategically positioned into the already existing for several years popular furniture store ΙΚΕΑ on the ring road that crosses Athens - Kifisos. It is situated on 20,000 sq. m and together with the Swedish furniture superstore, which occupies 25,000 sq. m, form one of the largest shopping centres in the west part of the capital.

Athenian Capitol opened its doors in the third quarter of last year, but the official opening took place shortly after Easter in April this year. The shopping centre is located in the heart of Athens between the avenue Patision and Triti septemvrio and occupies 15,000 sq. m close to the station of the electric train Victoria. This stop has not been working for about three years due to renovation of the line facilities. According to the investors, the municipality and the responsible institutions have promised to put into operation the station in October 2010, which has not happened.

The success of a shopping centre largely depends on the easy access of public transportation.  An example of this is The Mall Athens in Athens, which opened in the neighbourhood of Marushi in 2005. It is located close to the station of the electric train Neratsiotisa and streams of people get off the electric train every day to visit the mall. It occupies 58,000 sq. m and the investment for its construction is 320 million euros. Other shopping malls in the capital are Attica, Golden Hall, Kosmopolis, Avenue, Sonae Sierra, which also enjoy a good turnover, despite the difficult economic conditions.

Similar is the situation in other large cities such as Thessaloniki. Even though its residents do not exceed two million, there are a number of large shopping centres such as Mediterranean Cosmos, Planet Home, and many others. People there obviously prefer to shop in big colourful shops than in their competitors in the main shopping streets, where you can see many small deserted shops.

However, according to data from the European Union, the average area of shopping centres per 1,000 inhabitants is around 200 sq. m in Western countries, while this index is 55 sq. m in Greece today. Experts and investors anticipate that this index will reach 104 sq. m for three years. Large companies hope that purchasing power will increase despite the difficult conditions.

According to recent researches, retail trade accounted for € 4,288 per capita in 2006, and this figure is expected to rise to € 6,387 in 2018. Therefore, many big foreign companies ignore the gloomy forecasts in the short term and make major investments in Greece. The popular Spanish brand Mango bought for 13.5 million euros one of the most popular commercial buildings on the central Ermou Street in the capital, which until recently housed one of the Berto Lucci shops.