At a population of 1.8 million people in Bucharest and about 600,000 square meters of malls, each person in the capital city gets three square meters for shopping in malls in alone, without taking into account the smaller shopping centers such as retail parks and shopping galleries.
“The retail space stock in Bucharest is comparable to the CEE (Central and Eastern European i.e.) average, 545 square meters per 1,000 people. However, there is still room for shopping centers, in the center and northwest of Bucharest,” says Carmen Ravon, head of retail leasing with real estate consultant CBRE Romania.
As for sales, the retail rule says each square meter of retail space, excluding the food court, must generate EUR1,500 per year. The food court area should generate EUR2,500 sales per square meter per year to make renting it profitable, real estate consultants say.
The largest mall in Bucharest by surface area is AFI Cotroceni, with a gross lettable area of 90,000 square meters, following several expansions. Its makes EUR35 million revenue from rent and EUR270 million revenue from retailers’ sales. It is also the mall with most stores in Bucharest, 330.
Second largest mall is Sun Plaza, in the south of Bucharest, whose lettable area reached 81,000 square meters last year, after its owner, Austria’s S Immo, invested EUR30 million in expansion. The investment enabled the mall to add 40 new stores, so now it has more than 170 operating within it. Sun Plaza generates more than EUR200 million sales a year, according to ZF estimates.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)