2018

There’s no denying that these are challenging times for retail, with shopping center landlords having to work harder to increase footfall and convert this to spend. On paper, this is simple – make your retail assets attractive places to shop, introduce popular retail and F&B brands, and people will want to spend money there.

The brick-and-mortar store “retail apocalypse” has been abandoned, as numerous international studies clearly show. Online retailing is and remains a peripheral phenomenon in terms of current sales figures.

Lombardy is the richest Italian region, with a population that accounts for up to 10 million inhabitants, which is comparable to the total population of some European countries.

The European retail real estate industry has been going through the formation and development of mega-corporations. In the long run, will major enterprises divide the industry among themselves?

The acquisition of Westfield by Unibail-Rodamco also offers new opportunities for 26 shopping centers in the German portfolio. Tenants as well as customers should benefit.

By Reinhard Winiwarter, Publisher and Managing Partner ACROSS Magazine

Let’s face it: The general market sentiment for off-prime shopping centers, and even for well-performing assets in less prominent locations, is currently shaped by increased investor uncertainty about the future performance outlook for the asset class as a whole. Consequently, not much has happened in the European shopping center sector since the beginning of this year.