The attendance of shopping centers is recovering, and although it has not yet reached the pre-quarantine level of 2019, it is higher than 2020 in the periods that are relevant to compare, CEO of the development company Arricano Anna Chubotina said at the Current Real Estate Trends forum on Wednesday.
“There are objects in our portfolio that showed an increase in attendance last year. We are talking about district centers. At the same time, the conversion is growing, which indicates that our visitors come for a targeted purchase,” Chubotina said.
The expert also noted the growth trend of certain categories. “It is about sports goods, household goods and clothing brands,” she said.
Talking about the situation during the first and subsequent lockdowns, the expert noted that the market quickly developed new rules for interaction between players, consumers and authorities. “As a result, all stakeholders of the shopping centers were able to come to an agreement, taking into account the interests of different parties. During this period, the primary task for our company was to ensure financial stability,” the expert said.
According to her, thanks to the measures taken to optimize costs, Arricano has reduced this figure by 17% year-over-year. The drop in revenues was 13% in U.S. dollars. At the same time, the expert noted that the result was mainly influenced by the discounts provided to tenants during the periods of restricting the operation of the shopping and entertainment centers.
The CEO added that the company was looking for an individual approach to each tenant. “We discussed its market stability, model and drivers, long-term cooperation and the dynamics of category development in retail,” Chubotina said.
Arricano Real Estate Plc specializes in the construction of shopping and entertainment centers. It is one of the leading developers on the Ukrainian real estate market.
