227 out of 320 shopping centers in Ukraine have resumed their work, the press service of the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers (USTC) told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to a study by the USTTS conducted in early June, in general, work has been resumed on 4.12 million square meters of leased space. m, which is 72% of all retail space, including shopping centers located in the temporarily occupied territory.
14% of retail space (804,000 sq. m.) remains idle, a significant part of which is damaged. At the same time, some damaged shopping centers have already partially or completely resumed work, for example, Lavina Mall (Kyiv), Retail Park (Kyiv region), Nikolsky (Kharkiv) and others.
According to the USTTS, the largest part of non-working shopping centers is recorded in the east of the country. Here, only 12% of retail space receives visitors, 42% do not work and 46% are located in the occupied territory.
Less than half of the retail space operates in the south (45%). In the capital, 11% of retail space in the shopping center remains closed. Almost all shopping centers operate in the north, west and center of Ukraine.
Established in 2020, the USTC is a non-profit organization that unites key participants in the retail real estate market: owners and developers of shopping centers, as well as companies involved in the construction and maintenance of shopping malls.
Budhouse Group’s shopping centers were visited by 28.6 million people in 2021, which is 50% more than in 2020, the developer’s press service reported.
Such a significant increase is explained, first of all, by the opening of Kharkiv shopping center Nikolsky in May 2021. If we compare the attendance of other operating shopping centers, then there is also a gradual recovery of traffic after a fall in 2020 – a 13.1% increase. But none of the company’s shopping centers has yet reached the level of 2019, which is explained by quarantine restrictions, which also took place in 2021.
On average, as reported by the press service, there were 552 visitors per 1,000 square meters of the mall area. According to the company’s research, on average, visitors visit Budhouse Group’s shopping centers seven times a month and spend 73 minutes in them per visit. This is about the same as in 2020, and 16% less than in 2019, due to the restriction of the entertainment and catering sector.
The total turnover of Budhouse Group’s shopping centers in 2021, taking into account the new Nikolsky shopping and entertainment center, amounted to about UAH 10.4 billion. The turnover of Budhouse Group’s shopping centers in hryvnia equivalent in 2021 increased by 22% compared to 2020 and by 13% compared to 2019. In euros/dollars, the turnover of the company’s facilities reached the level of 2019 and even slightly exceeded it. The largest growth in turnover was observed in the Forum Lviv shopping center (27%).
The average vacancy in Budhouse Group’s shopping centers in 2021 was about 0.8% (0.6% in 2020). The minimum vacancy was recorded in the Forum Lviv shopping center and the Lubava shopping center (0.4-0.5%).
The rotation of tenants has decreased compared to 2020. In just a year, 19 new lease agreements with a total area of 3,600 square meters were signed in the existing shopping centers. For comparison: in 2020, some 30 new contracts were signed for a total area of more than 6,500 square meters.
Budhouse Group is a full cycle company engaged in investment, development and management of sustainable real estate assets. Since 2009, the company has opened four shopping centers: Fabrika shopping center (Kherson), Lubava shopping center (Cherkasy), Forum shopping center (Lviv), Nikolsky shopping center (Kharkiv) and Khortitsa Palace hotel (Zaporizhia). There are two projects at the implementation stage – Yessa shopping center (Odesa) and Khortitsa Mall shopping center (Zaporizhia).
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.
Budhouse Group investment and development group of companies (BHG, Kyiv) in 2020 reduced the turnover in its shopping and entertainment centers Fabrika (Kherson), Liubava (Cherkasy) and Forum Lviv (Lviv) by 11%, while in 2019 the increase was 12.8%, the company’s press service said on Thursday.
“Compared to 2020, the turnover of shopping centers in hryvnias has significantly decreased. If in 2018 the average growth was 23.3%, and in 2019 it amounted to 12.8%, then in 2020, for obvious reasons, this figure decreased by 11%. The total turnover of Budhouse Group shopping centers in 2020 amounted to about UAH 6.8 billion,” the developer’s press service said.
According to it, the smallest drop in trade turnover (by 2.6%) was recorded in the Liubava shopping and entertainment center.
According to the group, traffic to shopping centers in 2020 decreased by 28% compared to the previous year, to 19.4 million people. In addition, visitors spent 16% less time in the malls due to restrictions on the operation of entertainment zones.
The average vacancy rate for the group’s malls was 0.6% over the year, with the lowest rate (0.3%) recorded in the Forum Lviv mall. The company also signed 30 new lease agreements for premises with a total area of 6,500 square meters versus 40 contracts for 3,100 square meters in 2019.
The rotation of tenants decreased compared to 2019 and was mainly due to the difficult economic situation. The largest transactions were concluded with LC Waikiki and Budynok Ihrashok in the Liubava shopping and entertainment center.
Budhouse Group LLC was established in 2006. It is the owner and developer of commercial, office, hotel and residential real estate in Kyiv, Lviv, Cherkasy, Kherson, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhia.
The charter capital is UAH 95.1 million.
The losses of Ukrainian shopping and shopping and entertainment centers (malls) due to the government’s imposition of weekend quarantine during Black Friday ranged from 30% to 40% of turnover, the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers and the Epicenter K trading network reported to Interfax-Ukraine.
“Due to the introduction of weekend quarantine, the Epicenter network was visited by 750,000 buyers less than last year, and the losses amounted to about UAH 1 billion. The company planned to use this amount of funds to invest in the Ukrainian economy,” the press service of the Epicenter K told the agency.
The drop in turnover in Ukrainian shopping and entertainment centers during the weekend quarantine period amounted to 30-40%, the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers reported.
“We expected that the losses would amount to at least 12 billion per month, but in fact, the weekend flows were partially offset by the growth of flows on Friday, Monday and Tuesday. These days, the flow increased by 10-20%, and the quarantine itself lasted three weeks. As a result, according to our calculations, losses amounted to UAH 6-7 billion in three weeks,” the Council noted.
The Epicenter company stressed that the biggest blow to retail was the ban on trade at weekends after Black Friday, when consumers traditionally plan to buy gifts for the New Year. In particular, this year, due to the weekend quarantine, online sales during the Black Friday period decreased by 30% compared to the same period in 2019.
“The stoppage of trade during the period of the greatest consumer demand has significantly reduced the purchasing power of the population, hit domestic producers and will lead to a decrease in tax payments to the budget,” Deputy Director General, Director of Retail Trade of Epicenter K LLC Volodymyr Honcharov is quoted in the comment.
He added that the network cooperates with 5,000 suppliers, most of which are Ukrainian producers.
“Some of them have already announced the forced reduction or even curtailment of production due to financial problems associated with the lack of sources of sale of goods. In addition, the reduction of tax payments to the budgets of all levels will deal a significant blow to the financial support of local communities, especially in small settlements,” he beleives.
Average vacancy of shopping centers in Lviv by the middle of 2019 was 2.9%, and by late 2021 it is planned that total supply of retail space would expand by 34,600 square meters thanks to the launch of four new shopping centers, UTG consulting company (Kyiv) has reported. “As of the end of the first half of 2019, there is a shortage of commercial premises in the amount of about 24,700 square meters. In the case of the implementation and commissioning of the announced promising projects in the market, there may be a surplus that will inevitably entail overflow of tenants from obsolete facilities that are losing popularity, as well as will have an impact on the growth of vacancy and the correction of rental rates downwards,” UTG analyst Oksana Havrylevych told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, in 2019-2021, shopping centers with a total leasable area of 35,600 square meters are declared to open, in particular: on July 25, 2019, the opening of Vernissage shopping center (1, Shevska Street, GLA is 1,000 sq. m), the Arsen shopping and entertainment center (60, Chervonoi Kalyny Avenue, GLA is 24,800 sq. m.), the Kinescope shopping center (Heroyiv UPA Street, GLA is 8,600 sq. m.), as well as a shopping and office center 11, Hospitalna Street (GLA is 1,300 sq. m.).
According to UTG estimates, by the end of the first half of 2019, two regional, six district, 16 microdistrict, 11 specialized shopping centers and 11 detached supermarkets and hypermarkets were operating in Lviv.
According to the ICSC classification, the total area of the city’s retail facilities is 390,200 square meters., which corresponds to 528,400 square meters per 1,000 inhabitants or 2,200 0 square meters per square kilometer of the total area of the city (excluding small shops, street retail, city markets, detached super- and hypermarkets).
