Attractions Bulgaria

Archive for the ‘Shopping Mall’ Category

Good news for Bulgaria, is the rapid rise in the number of new shopping centres in Bulgaria. This is happening despite the global downturn in business… and once again points towards Bulgaria as a strong contender for overseas investment.

Bulgaria is still almost at the bottom of the charts for shopping centres – but this is not surprising, considering the average Bulgarian has less shopping power than the average Western European. However, with all the changes in Europe, and with Bulgaria soon to join the euro… growth is assured… and backers are seeing Bulgaria as potential shopping heaven.

However, should construction levels in Bulgaria maintain the same level, by the end of 2011, Bulgaria will have progressed from the current 25 sq m per 1000 people to levels currently enjoyed by Belgium, Malta and Croatia, who have anything from 100 to 75 sq m per 1000 people, provided of course that the aforementioned countries do not construct additional shopping malls.

Furthermore, a recent Cushman & Wakefield report indicated that construction levels in Bulgaria are actually considerably slower than they would have been had it not been for the global economic downturn. This saw the number of proposed projects slashed by 20 per cent.

More than 500 000 sq m of new retail area are expected to be completed in Bulgaria, which is more than the proposed construction in the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and the Ukraine.

In western Europe the crisis, lack of financing and crediting, the deteriorating global recession and many other interrelated factors have contributed to the sharp decline of total volume of proposed construction for 2011, which in comparison to corresponding figures during the peak of the sector in 2007 has marked a 45 per cent decline. According to the Cushman & Wakefield report, however, the industry expects a rise in business in the following two to three years.

In a report by the international consultant firm, Jones Lang LaSalle, it is revealed that the total volume of investments in shopping malls in Europe has risen by as much as 85 per cent in Q2 of 2009, reaching two billion euro.

Derived from an article in Sofia Echo.

French retail chain Carrefour will open a store in Mall Pleven, developer Aladin Investment said on May 27, as quoted by Dnevnik daily. The hypermarket chain would rent 2 400 sq m on the shopping centre’s ground floor, Aladin Harfan, owner of Aladin Investment, was quoted as saying.

Mall Pleven, a 80 million leva development, is still under construction but is expected to be completed by the end of the year. “Construction is progressing according to schedule,” Harfan was quoted as saying.

The shopping centre is expected to open in early 2010 and has generated “heightened interest” from retailers, according to Colliers International, contracted to rent out the 100 stores that will spread over 17 500 sq m in the finished mall.

Currently, there are eight Carrefour projects under construction nationwide. The first hypermarket of the French group opened for business at the end of March 2009 in Bourgas, Bulgaria’s second largest Black Sea city.

The first Carrefour hypermarket in Sofia is expected to open in February 2010 on the Tsarigradsko Chaussee Boulevard.

Derived from an article in Sofia Echo.