PROJECTS, TRENDS AND STRATEGIES

Evolutionary development to secure the location: Dreieich Nordpark, located around ten kilometers south of Frankfurt am Main and a central supply location for the residents of Dreieich and the Offenbach district, has been extensively modernized – and a number of new tenants have also been added to the location’s offering.

LATEST TRENDS IN ASSET AND CENTER MANAGEMENT

Retail is polarizing towards the absolute top locations, among them metropolitan locations, and A-cities. There are many cases proving this but there are also exceptions – and not just any, but successful exceptions. The recent DeepTalk online-discussion took a closer look at one such exception and looked a little behind the letting and positioning strategies of the Europa-Galerie Saarbrücken in Germany, one of the outstanding best-practice examples.

The BALFIN Group has brought nothing less than the idea of shopping centers to Albania. The group is not only a developer and operator of assets but has also developed into one of the most influential retail and wholesale players in the Western Balkans. “It takes courage, trust, and patience to break new ground,” says Julian Mane, Vice President Retail of the BALFIN Group. “But whoever is among the first on a new market will also be the most successful.” In the extensive interview with ACROSS, Mane explains, among other things, how he convinces brands to enter the Albanian market, what they can expect there, and why retail parks will be the future concept for the country.

Ian Sandford, President of Eurofund Group, creates places that combine shopping, gastronomy, and leisure, ensuring that everyone finds a reason to go to a center every day. He coined the term “shopping resort” as a result. After numerous very successful projects, particularly with Puerto Venecia in Spain and Ubbo in Lisbon, he is now bringing his idea of a shopping resort to the Rhein-Ruhr Zentrum in Germany. In this interview, he explains what managers can learn from goldfish and why courage is more crucial than ever. He also shares his plans for the Rhein-Ruhr Zentrum and his other assets.

DEVELOPMENTS AND TRENDS IN THE OUTLET INDUSTRY

This summer, ROS Retail Outlet Shopping joined the French FREY Group to grow together in the outlet sector. In this interview, Antoine Frey, CEO of FREY, and Thomas Reichenauer, Co-Founder and Managing Director of ROS Retail Outlet Shopping, explain which values and visions both companies have in common, what plans they are pursuing, especially with their first project in Malmö, and why they feel particularly comfortable in the outlet and outdoor shopping sector in the long term.

NEINVER is celebrating three anniversaries this year: 25 years of Getafe The Style Outlet in Spain and 20 years of Castel Guelfo and Vicolungo in Italy. All these centers are success stories. Their developments show that every center is individual and, when managed well, will develop its own success story. Nevertheless, Eduardo Ceballos, Asset Management Director at NEINVER, explains some common trends that every center should follow.

When it comes to measuring success, outlets are undergoing a noticeable change, with a gradual shift away from traditional KPIs – such as sales per square meter – and towards a more comprehensive assessment. These days, the critical metric for success is no longer how much revenue a store generates, but how much of an “experience” it provides per square meter, explains Giles Membrey, Managing Director, Rioja Estates.

Advertisement

STRATEGIES OF RETAILERS

At Main-Taunus-Zentrum (MTZ), one of the largest and most successful shopping centers in Germany, ECE Marketplaces has realized a new destination within the center being a further development of the open structure and providing an additional USP of the center. In the middle of the open-air shopping center in Sulzbach near Frankfurt am Main, the new “Food Garden” creates a lively new urban center with a high quality, varied gastronomy offering in five free-standing restaurant buildings for a total of eight restaurant concepts, inviting outdoor terraces, and attractive green spaces.

LATEST TRENDS

The Compass Group has been won as the operator of the Foodhall in the new FOUR Frankfurt city quarter. Food Affairs GmbH, a company of Compass Group Deutschland GmbH, intends to curate the approximately 3,000 sq m space according to international standards and develop it into one of Frankfurt’s top food addresses.

RETAIL TECHNOLOGY

“The real value of a mixed-use property is when the stakeholders benefit from each other,” says Erwin Buckers. The CEO of Chainels spoke to ACROSS about the company’s plans and why the mixed-use trend will not only make the idea of community more important, but will also be a catalyst for Proptech solutions.

“The whole industry needs to prepare to be relevant for the unforeseeable future,” states Peter Tonstad, CEO of Placewise, in his latest PropTech column. According to him, shopping centers have the opportunity to do better by their local communities, by simply “doing good”. Introducing digital solutions is a very helpful tool to do so.

In today’s digital age, shopping centers face the challenge of understanding their customers’ behaviors and preferences while delivering personalized experiences. Wiacom, a leading WiFi marketing company, and Placewise, a proptech provider to the global retail real estate industry, have forged a powerful partnership that revolutionizes how shopping centers collect valuable data and engage with their shoppers.

PLANS OF INVESTORS AND OWNERS

Including G-Star RAW, WHP Global’s brand portfolio generates more than $7 billion in retail sales, further elevating the company to one of the largest brand management companies in the world.

WHERE THE INDUSTRY MEETS