Ukrainian shopping centers note increase in turnover y-o-y; attendance exceeds pre-war figures
The largest Ukrainian shopping and entertainment centers noted a significant increase in turnover in hryvnia, by 40% to 100% in 2023 year-over-year, as well as in attendance, which exceeded pre-war figures.
Thus, in the capital's Respublika Park shopping center, attendance in October 2023 exceeded the pre-war December 2021 indicators – some 1.57 million people against 1.54 million, CEO of Respublika Park Yulia Schaslyva said. At the same time, on November's Black Friday traffic was over 70,000 people per day.
In addition, the turnover of shopping center tenants showed an increase in both hryvnia and dollar compared to pre-war times.
"Turnover in hryvnia in October 2023 by December 2021 increased by 41%, in dollars by 5%. We compared the indicators only taking into account tenants who worked in both of these periods. Fashion tenants are in first place in terms of turnover," she said at RAU Summit 2023 in Kyiv.
According to CEO of Retroville shopping and business center Renata Jakubcheniene, in 2023 the traffic of the facility was a record of 30% higher than in the pre-war period. During peak periods, the shopping center received 140,000 visitors over two days.
Trade turnover in hryvnia in December 2023 increased by January 2022 for almost all tenants, in dollars – for half, the CEO said. In particular, the turnover of the retailer H&M, which opened in November for the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion, exceeded pre-war figures.
In addition, despite the shelling of the occupiers in March 2022, when part of the shopping and business center was damaged, the occupancy rate of Retroville today is 86%, Jakubcheniene said.
IFC Gulliver currently records about 17,000 unique visitors per day, while during peak periods this number reaches 27,000 to 28,000 visitors, CEO of IFC Gulliver Iryna Kruppa said.
According to her, until 2022, the IFC recorded total traffic, without counting unique visitors. In the pre-war period, this figure was 32,000 to 35,000 people per day.
The management of the complex expects an increase in unique visitors of 10% to 15% after the opening of Inditex stores, which occupy most of the premium locations.
Kyiv properties managed by Dragon Capital Property Management (Smart Plaza Obolon, Piramida, Aladdin) also generally show an increase in performance compared to last year.
Properties managed by Dragon Capital PM in other cities are also seeing growth. Thus, in the Sky Park shopping center in Vinnytsia, attendance exceeds pre-war figures by 8%, and last year's figures by 15%.
"We are visited by 20,000 to 22,000 guests every day. We observe that the turnover of our tenants, especially fashion and sports, is twice as high as last year's figures in hryvnia. We are observing positive dynamics in attendance, both month by month and year by year," commercial director of Sky Park shopping center Stanislav Shulha said.
Meanwhile, the attendance of Victoria Gardens shopping center in Lviv in 2023 was equal to the figures for 2019, while setting an absolute record for attendance on Black Friday of 42,000 visitors.
"Trade turnover in hryvnia in 2023 increased by 56% by 2022. I think this is due to many factors, in particular the increase in tenant prices, and the increase in the time that visitors spend in our shopping center," commercial director of the Victoria Gardens shopping center Oleksandr Burkatsky said.
At the same time, a reduction in attendance and turnover was recorded by the Riviera Shopping City shopping center in Odesa.