Licence Partner Engel & Völkers Commercial Milano

Gianluca Sinisi Licence Partner Engel & Völkers Commercial Milano

thanks to regeneration interventions, more suitable and customisable sPaces are created

Iwould start from an axiom, now more than ever: retail works if the common thread is experience. Food teaches us this and it is also fundamental for other sectors, starting with fashion. Retail spaces must therefore be reinterpreted in this key. Ralph Lauren, for example, when reopening in Milan in Via Spiga, has combined fashion with food and, without a doubt, it is the bar that gets people talking more than the shop, allowing them to experience the American country chic atmosphere. During the pandemic, again in Milan, the proliferation of dehors used by cafes and restaurants has in fact changed the perception of the city: if this is also combined with retail, or other mixed-use formulas, more conviviality and the experience of sociability are nurtured. It is no coincidence that an important key to understanding the Milanese retail market is the regeneration of buildings that create more suitable and customisable spaces, such as the restyling of Hines in Via Spiga, the Ba59 project in Corso Buenos Aires with Nike and the Palazzo di Fuoco in Piazzale Loreto that will house Airness. Not to mention the forthcoming Odeon or the Vetra Building that we are marketing. In these new projects you can, among other things, also obtain more attractive entry subsidies, greater incentives and capital contributions for renovation from the landlords. Of course, Covid and the various lockdowns have brought the focus back to

«precisely in a mixed-use tO replace retail spaces perspective, services are multiplying that, alsO due tO their size, have a harder time finding available tenants»

neighbourhoods and neighbourhood service, as well as increasing retail vacancy also in the historic centre, which is at risk of impoverishment. It remains to be seen how far working from home will go, that is, what the post-pandemic organisational model of work will actually be. Certainly, a new balance that is not yet well defined will be created. Undoubtedly, in the face of the exponential increase in e-commerce brought about by the health emergency and the consequent closure of shops, it has become essential for a retailer to guarantee effective multichannelling. While it is indeed undeniable that the experience can be realised

predominantly in a physical space, thanks to direct contact with people, it is equally true that a counterproductive negative experience can be created if in the store the customer does not find the offer available online, and does not even have the opportunity to order it on site. Another important aspect that should not be underestimated, and which mainly concerns secondary cities, is the gradual closure of

▲►Rendering of Vetra Building, Milan

Engel & Völkers Commercial Milano

large shops previously occupied by fast fashion brands, which are optimising their network. In this case, there are no other product categories able to take over. What is more, vacancy leads to vacancy: the more space is vacated, in high streets or shopping centres, the more difficult it is to find tenants willing to enter. Also because retail is made up of flows of people, and if the flow is low, you inevitably have to change street or location. It is no coincidence that, in a mixed-use perspective, services such as specialist laboratories, diagnostic centres, dental centres, and primary care activities, are multiplying to replace retail. •

Photo by BAMS photo photo Photo by BAMS

Photo by BAMS photo

▲Franciacorta Outlet Village