Roppenheim The Style Outlets adds Galeries Lafayette to its portfolio

The French department store chain will operate the store starting this summer, adding new top brands to the centre’s portfolio.

Consistent with NEINVER’s commitment to offer a unique shopping experience with the best mix of stores, the centre also added other brands in 2017, including Triumph, Bébé Confort, Havaianas and a Ruff’s Burger restaurant.

The centre celebrates its fifth anniversary this April

Roppenheim The Style Outlets, which opened in 2012, is celebrating its fifth anniversary this month. With its strategic location at the border between France and Germany, the outlet centre has recorded five solid years of growth in sales and foot traffic. Last year, the centre’s sales rose 18% over the previous year, while the number of visitors increased by 16% to almost 1.8 million (72% higher than in its opening year), and aims to reach 2 million in 2018.

The new brands that opened outlets in Roppenheim The Style Outlets in 2016 include IKKS, Home&Cook, Kid’store, Finsbury Basler and The Kooples which opened its largest store in the world at the centre. The centre has increased its range of fashion outlets and restaurants by about 40% over those five years, from its original 75 units to its current 103 units, reaching now a 96% occupancy rate. It also recently expanded its parking capacity, adding 200 new spaces for a total of around 2,000.

Changes in sales and foot traffic at Roppenheim The Style Outlets from 2012 to 2016

Source: NEINVER

Although most of the centre’s visitors come from France and Germany, the number of tourists coming from outside those two countries has grown by 326% over the last four years. As a result, the number of duty-free transactions increased by 64% last year, to 2,700 transactions. The centre offers free shuttle bus service from the cities of Strasbourg, Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden.

With a design that evokes the traditional villages of French Alsace, the centre was chosen by brands in 2016 as the fifth most attractive outlet centre in Europe, according to a report by the German consultancy firm Ecostra. The centre was also awarded as “Best Outlet Centre” at MAPIC Awards 2013.

With a 89% satisfaction rate, the features that shoppers value most, according to a recent survey of visitors to the centre, include its easy access, its cleanliness, the architecture and green spaces, the safety of a car-free zone, the service in the stores, and the parking. The study also showed that the average number of visits per person was 5 a year, with an average stay of 2 hours and 20 minutes, and that 87% of the visitors bought something.

Another milestone of last year was the renewal of the centre’s BREEAM In-Use certification, making it the first outlet centre in the world to receive a rating of Outstanding, earning it a nomination in the latest edition of the BREEAM Awards, in the Retail (In-Use) category.

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