MAPIC IS COMMITTED TO DIVERSITY
MAPIC aims to ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership.
Networking Breakfast
Women in retail property sharing experience
27 November – 9.00, Arena
50% female members in the MAPIC Awards Jury
40% female speakers during MAPIC
Discover our commitments
Salomon’s Pascal Clausse at MAPIC seeking expansion opportunities; Keynote: Gulli Parcs’ Gaëtan Le Jariel; Lucid; CBRE; Related Argent; Colliers; Praemia; Lane 7; and more...
AI AND TECH:
We focus on the much-hyped AI revolution and ask how the real estate industry is embracing the new technology
LEISURE:
With LeisurUp bigger than ever we look at how the leisure market is evolving and the new initiatives driving the sector
Today’s packed conference agenda includes keynotes from Krispy Kreme, Wingstop and Dans le Noir?; plus three premium networking summits and a focus on retail and F&B
27 NOVEMBER
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS Michel Filzi EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor in Chief, Mark Faithfull; Sub Editor, Julian Newby; Proof Reader, Debbie Lincoln; Reporters, Clive Bull, Ben Cooper, Liz Morrell; Editorial Management, Boutique Media International; Graphic Studio, studioA Design; Layout Designers, Harriet Palmer, Sunnie Newby; Head of Photographers, Yann Coatsaliou/360 Medias; Photographers, Frederic Dides PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Publishing Director, Martin Screpel; Publishing Manager, Christelle Dedeystere; Printer IAPCA, Le Muy (France).
Advertising contact in Cannes Maryam Grandela maryam.grandela@rxglobal.com RX France, a French joint stock company with a capital of 90,000,000 euros, having its registered offices at 52 Quai de Dion Bouton 92800 Puteaux, France, registered with the Nanterre Trade and Companies Register under n°410 219 364 - VAT number: FR92 410 219 364. Contents © 2024, RX France Market Publications. Printed on PEFC certified paper
Salomon in Cannes to learn as global expansion continues
MOUNTAIN sports and footwear brand Salomon is at MAPIC this week looking for new store opportunities and best practice to incorporate within its portfolio as it continues its global expansion. Pascal Clausse, senior vice-president of Salomon global retail, said the brand was in a phase of fast expansion in both Europe and the rest of the world. It follows recent flagship openings for Salomon in Paris, London, New York, Milan, Shanghai and Tokyo. In London, a brand flagship store opened in Covent Garden in October, while its Soho Sportstyle footwear boutique opened in mid-November. In Paris, Salomon opened its fourth brand store in the French capital at the end of May, with a store on the Champs-Élysées. It features an innovation wall, as well as a space for 2D foot scanning and a personal shopper offer. Clausse is accompanied at MA-
PIC by a retail-development team which is at the event to meet landlords and discuss further international expansion. Clausse said his role at MAPIC was to keep in touch with best practice at the
event. “I’ll be watching and learning from other brands about how they put consumer experience, environment and loyalty first. These are the key topics,” he said. Clausse will also be a speaker at the Retail Without Frontiers session today at 11.30 which will discuss international expansion. “It will look at how you play the global/ local game and how you adjust that game depending on brand readiness?” he said. “It’s to share what is non-negotiable because it’s a global requirement and where you need to adjust the format locally.”
Salomon offers a range of store solutions depending on brand readiness in the individual market. These range from pop-up stores to brand flagships and outlet stores, Clausse said. He said that Salomon had successfully transitioned from a traditional B2B background to become a successful B2C business with a good consumer appetite for the brand.
Retail and leisure are key to UK growth
RETAIL and leisure is a “top priority” for the UK government’s foreign business and trade strategy, a senior figure at the British Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has said. Barrie Harris, sector manager for creative, consumer, sport and education within the Exports and UK Trade division of the DBT, said: “This area — retail and leisure — and how destinations are evolving, is the top priority for us. It’s fair to say that in lots of markets the UK is quite highly regarded. British expertise is sought after. There’s so much opportunity for British industry.”
Harris made the comments at a reception hosted by the DBT yesterday, as part of its trade mission to MAPIC. The event attracted representatives from numerous sectors with an interest in spreading the message about the country’s potential for international markets, including those from the UK creative, design, architecture and retail-technology sectors. It was hosted at the Majestic hotel in
Cannes yesterday afternoon, while the DBT itself is based inside the Palais des Festivals, at the UK pavilion.
Industry professionals also heard from a panel of retail and leisure experts, hosted by Emma Jones, lead for strategic partnerships and alliances at the DBT. The panel included Alison Rehill-Erguven, chief executive of Cenomi, and Julie Fitzsimmons, founder and chief executive of Lodestar.
Speaking to MAPIC News before the panel discussion, Harris said that the
key function of the department was to assist UK companies looking to move to or export to overseas markets.
He said: “We have a business lounge here, supporting a group of British companies which include some architects and creative-design companies and retail-tech companies, all looking for export opportunities overseas.
“We’re interested in talking to people at MAPIC about partnering and collaborating in Europe but also in places like Saudi Arabia.”
EXPERIENCES CAN ATTRACT SHOPPERS AND SPONSORS
SHOPPING-centre landlords need to be aware of both the opportunities and the challenges associated with creating events and promotional activities at their malls, according to a panel of real estate experts.
Discussing the ways in which destinations can be leveraged to attract new customers, Nhood international tenant representation director Ganna Koryagina said that activations such as the Green Walk sustainability-focused catwalk it ran at a number of its schemes, had pushed footfall up and attracted the hard-to-entice Gen-Z shopper.
“One of the things we have been trying to do is come up with initiatives that provide an authentic experience and bring in micro-communities of people,” she said. “And our data shows that these events encourage people to come back more regularly.”
Roxana Baias, group head of marketing at NEPI Rockcastle, added that the company had used its Romanian malls as a platform for music, attracting sponsorship from brands such as Procter & Gamble across a series of summer events. It expects to roll out the programme to more malls in the CEE next year.
However, Alex Hill, Hammerson’s leasing manager, restaurants and leisure, also warned that shopping centres needed to ensure that they could cope with large influxes of people for celebrity-led events such as one it held with rapper Dizzee Rascal.
“As centre managers we need to learn about managing crowds and enhancing the customer experience,” he said.
Pascal Clausse, senior vice-president global retail, Salomon
Barrie Harris of the UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
Roxana Baias of NEPI Rockcastle (left); Hammerson’s Alex Hill, Nhood’s Ganna Koryagina and Newmark’s Simon Carson
METZ OFFERS ‘BIG OPPORTUNITIES’ FOR BRANDS
LOCATED in a unique position close to many of France’s European neighbours, the French Eurométropole area of Metz is ripe for investment and retail expansion, the director of an agency established to promote the area to the market has said.
Patricia Moinard, director of economic development and inward investment for the Inspire Metz agency, is at MAPIC to promote the region as a place rich with opportunities for the retail-property industry.
She said: “We are here firstly to introduce ourselves, and also to show what the Metz region is about. We are showing that the Metz area is attractive to investment and is competitive.”
The Metz Eurométropole area is close to the French borders with Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Belgium. Metz is only 34 km from Germany and 38 km from the Luxembourg border, both of which are closer than the nearest French city of Nancy.
“It makes it an amazing and vibrant city,” she said. “People come from across many different borders. It’s a big opportunity for brands looking for new opportunities and challenges. “We’re here to assist stakeholders and private investors with development projects and enter into partnerships and collaborations with brands looking for space,” she said.
There is a pipeline of development in Metz, including the transformation of the downtown area, which is largely pedestrianised, and a redevelopment of a former department store.
La Boite Aux Enfants plans to open new TV-themed Gulli Parcs
FRENCH kids’ indoor leisure group
La Boite Aux Enfants, which runs the Gulli Parcs chain, is in expansion mode following the acquisition of its parent company earlier this year.
La Boite Aux Enfants, which is in the same group of companies as the famous French kids’ TV channel Gulli, is opening new Gulli Parcs venues throughout France following more than a decade of steady growth.
A team from Gulli Parcs is at MAPIC to meet with potential real estate partners and to find prospective new sites, and yesterday president Gaëtan Le Jariel gave a keynote address to delegates outlining his company’s vision for growth.
Le Jariel outlined the progress the company has already made in order to achieve its current portfolio of 25 parks around France. He also shared plans with the audience about his vision of reaching 50 park sites nationally by 2030, boosted by the acquisition of the group by French media company Groupe M6 in October 2024.
He said: “Our aim is to have 50 parks in the next three to four years and offer the best leisure innovation to children in France.”
Le Jariel said that the company is particularly interested in finding sites near shopping centres and retail parks in the south west of France, where it currently has relatively low representation.
Part of the company’s growth strategy entails buying existing leisure parks and rebranding them. Always located close to shopping
and leisure centres and retail parks, and ranging in size from 1,200 sq m to 2,500 sq m, Gulli Parcs offer a host of play areas and activities for kids, sharing similar branding, logos and featuring animation from the TV channel of the same name.
The group of parks attracts some 1.5 million visitors per year.
Prices for admission to the parks is deliberately kept low, at €10, in order to keep the venues affordable for anyone. All parks are owned directly, due to a policy of not franchising the concept.
Retail is the ‘glue’ for Lisbon project
THE ROLE of retail in revitalising cities was in the spotlight at the Retail and Urban Regeneration Summit on Tuesday afternoon in the Verrière Grand Audi.
This session examined how new projects are reinventing urban landscapes to make cities attractive for retailers and meet the needs of communities. The event brought together landlords, retailers, international cities and investors. Opening the session Michael Purefoy, head of asset management, Entrecampos, spoke about his experience developing the new destination neighbourhood in the vibrant centre of the Portuguese capital Lisbon.
“We are a mixed-use project. We are led by offices — we have seven office buildings throughout the site. We have a residential aspect to the project as well, around 250 apartments. But at the heart of it we are here to talk about retail, and retail is the glue that is going to knit the entire project to-
gether,” he said.
James Rayner, head of retail, Related Argent, explained the thinking behind Brent Cross Town, a new neighbourhood in northwest London offering
residential, restaurants, shops, leisure, 50 acres of parks and sporting facilities. Rayner began by sharing figures for London’s Kings Cross which has a footfall of 90 million people a year. “By comparison, Brent Cross has a footfall of precisely none, and that is what we are trying to change,” he said. “It starts with a public-private partnership with the London Borough of Barnet. They have essentially put in the land and we are the developer and we are going to help them deliver this vision of a new town.”
Other speakers included Sofia Ferreira de Almeida, head of property and asset services Iberia, Nhood Iberia; Alfie Gibbs, chief business development officer, Diriyah Company; Nawaf Rajeh, development and innovation marketing senior director, Diriyah Company; Roberta Maiolino, high street retail Italy, Colliers; and Donato Olimpio, head of commercial, hotel & residential department, Praemia.
Patricia Moinard of the Inspire Metz agency
Entrecampos’ Michael Purefoy
Gaëtan Le Jariel of La Boite Aux Enfants and Gulli Parcs
Investment returning to retail after ‘big shift in the market’
RETAIL is once again on the agenda for investors, according to experts on the Investor Sentiment: Retail Back in the Spotlight in Europe? panel at MAPIC yesterday. It follows €22bn investment in retail in the year to date, including €8bn in Q3 alone, according to Béatrice de Quinsonas Drouas, research director at BPCE Solutions.
“It’s definitely back in the spotlight,” said Roman Müller, head of investment, management retail at Union Investment. “The operational KPIs in the sector are solid and we see an ongoing polarisation because of ecommerce. We can clearly see which schemes are working and which are not performing as well as pre-COVID.”
He said investors were focusing on the winning concepts. “They are trying to acquire the well-performing schemes as they assume rental growth and slight yield compression in the next three to five years.”
Matthieu de Mallmann, global head of retail and healthcare at AXA IM Alts, agreed that sentiment was strong. “We see some strong operational figures across
the board and very dynamic leasing activity that supports retail investment valuations.”
Eric Decouvelaere, head of EMEA urban destinations at CBRE Investment Management, said there had been a big shift in the market since last year. “The big change is the environment and the demand. Last year, inflation meant there was not so much tenant demand. Now I think we will have a fantastic 2025.”
Müller identified Poland, the Czech
Republic, Portugal, Spain and Italy as the top-five markets for investment, although he warned of some nervousness around Poland and the Czech Republic because of their proximity to Ukraine.
Mallmann added that the UK was also an attractive investment proposition. “It has been very challenging but we now see some improvement and very nice assets are trading today at very nice yields,” he said. Looking to the future, creating va-
lue from investments will require a more hands-on approach, according to Decouvelaere. “There is the retail of 2019 and there will be the retail of 2025. Those are two very different animals,” he said. “2019 was a supply-led model. We are now in a demand-led model. We drive the growth by understanding the customer and being creative with leasing, brands and formats.”
Mallmann agreed: “On top of the operational deep dive we need to do even more today. Shopping destinations fight for the same customers and brands so we need to continue to invest in our centres to attract brands and customers. The ESG component is also absolutely critical too.”
Electric motoring’s best-kept secret
THE US-based electric vehicle company Lucid Motors is at MAPIC looking to expand its network of showrooms. Lucid opened its first store in Munich in 2022 and has since opened in Oslo, Amsterdam, Geneva and Zurich.
Ramon Kabbedijk, Lucid Motors director of retail development, told MAPIC News that the company is aiming to expand its network throughout Europe and the Middle East, and is currently eyeing France, Sweden, Spain and Italy as it solidifies its European footprint. Production and delivery of vehicles started a year-and-a-half ago with the first model, the Lucid Air sedan-style EV, and the expansion is in preparation for its second model, the larger Lucid Gravity SUV.
Kabbedijk said Lucid was looking at a range of possible sites. “On the one hand we need to find marquee locations in the centre of the bigger metropolitan cities which will solidify our brand recognition, and of course hopefully enhance sales, and put us on the map in those countries. Secondly we are looking for the more traditional carshowroom locations outside the city centres where we can properly position our brand, but also service our cars. Selling a car — that’s one moment in time — but you define the quality of your brand by the after-sales you can offer.”
The company is keen to underline that Lucid is an American brand — based in Arizona, designed in California — and believes greater
visibility with more locations for its studios will deliver greater brand recognition.
The mission of the company, Kabbedijk said, is to create electrical technology that goes further than any other electric vehicle has gone before on a single battery charge, to get as many miles as possible out of one kilowatt hour. “That results in lighter cars, lighter batteries, so it’s a virtuous circle,” he said.
“We believe that we have arguably the best electric car on the market — it shows in the number of awards we have won worldwide as well as factually the specifications and the actual miles we get out of the car,” he said. “Our only problem is we’ve got the best car in the world and nobody knows about it... yet!”
Lucid Motor’s Ramon Kabbedijk
Matthieu de Mallmann of AXA IM Alts (right) and Eric Decouvelaere head of CBRE Investment Management
LA SEULE NOTIFICATION
À NE PAS METTRE EN MODE SILENCIEUX
+ 2 080
articles premium (2023)
Le nouveau numéro est disponible
24h dans l’immobilier : Retrouvez le dès maintenant sur le site
Quelles tendances pour le S2 2024 ?
120
transactions révélées en exclusivité (2023)
+ 24K professionnels recensés dans l’annuaire
LE MEILLEUR DE L’INFORMATION IMMOBILIÈRE GRÂCE À NOTRE ABONNEMENT
L’ABONNEMENT BUSINESS IMMO, C’EST
• Des exclusivités en illimité
• L’annuaire
• Des vidéos inédites
• Le magazine en print et en digital
• Les conférences BIG UP
• Des conférences thématiques
Je m’abonne
Liquidity returning to retail led by value-add investors
“THE BELL has rung” on the bottom of the retail real estate investment market according to CBRE head of European retail Chris Gardener, who believes that the appetite for retail property has returned after a lengthy hiatus.
Gardener pointed to major deals such as Blanchardstown shopping centre outside Dublin (acquired by Strategic Value Partners for around €560m), Ireland; and Forum Palermo, Italy (bought by Kryalos SGR for about €200m) as examples of major retail schemes that have changed hands in recent months. He said that value-add investors are circling more deals heading into the new year.
“There is a huge amount going on behind the scenes, only a small percentage of what is happening is visible at the moment,” he said. “Inevitably at this stage in the cycle it is the value-add investors who are leading this, which is unsurprising at this horizon. But I’m sure we’ll see core-plus investors next and then core after that. It may
take some time and it certainly won’t be immediate, perhaps even another year, but liquidity is definitely returning.”
Gardener highlighted the Iberian market as one which is currently
attracting a large amount of investment interest and said that there had been a “meteoric” shift in liquidity levels in Spain and Portugal compared with two years ago, with investment volumes of €1.3bn after Q3 already matching the whole of 2023.
“Any call about Spain is a good call,” Gardener said. “The fundamentals are really strong and the retailers and shopping centres are trading fantastically well, which is encouraging a lot of interest in the whole Iberian peninsula.”
While a number of recent transactions have been driven by major private equity companies and funds, Gardener also pointed to the success of French-headquartered Klépierre in the listed sector.
“Klépierre is a company which is performing well, has achieved a successful capital raise, and is re-investing in a sector in which it is already a specialist,” he said. “It’s great to see and very encouraging for the whole market.”
GRAND EPAGNY CENTRE OPENS ITS DOORS
CENTRAL PARC Grand Epagny has opened its doors, marking the completion of a long-term project for French commercial real estate specialist Compagnie de Phalsbourg. The new shopping centre is based in Grand Epagny, the leading commercial and leisure hub in Annecy and Haute-Savoie, France. Compagnie de Phalsbourg won the contract in 2018 after pitching to the Haute-Savoie Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), the owner of the site which was devastated by a fire in 2013 in the Épagny-Metz-Tessy business park, near Annecy.
The project was designed by architect Gianni Ranaulo and gives pride of place to green spaces and soft modes of transport.
Central Parc Grand Épagny also features a green-roof area of over 2,500 sq m and more than 4,000 sq m of photovoltaic panels covering the energy needs of the common areas.
Mixed-use offers new design opportunities
DESIGN International, an architectural firm with offices in London and Milan, is showcasing three projects at MAPIC this week as its work continues a shift to the design of mixeduse developments.
Design International partner Lucio Guerra said: “90% of our work is now mixed-use or refurbishments of old centres. Now it’s rare that we receive a brief that is solely retail.”
This change is offering exciting opportunities for shaping the design brief. “It’s about creating communities where people live, work, shop and entertain all under one roof. We always look at the flexibility of the space and then it’s about designing around people and trying to put them at the centre of the design,” he said. The three projects on display at
MAPIC include Maximall Pompeii in Italy, a shopping destination directly connected to the UNESCO World Heritage Site at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. It is due to open later this week.
Also on display is Livat Shanghai Meeting Place, an Ingka-owned centre in China which opened in September and includes more than 300 stores. 130,000 people visited the space on its opening day.
Lykli Noida in Delhi in India is also on show. The Ingka Centres-owned scheme is a transit-oriented, mixeduse development that incorporates retail, offices and hospitality including the first of Ingka Centres’ meeting places to include a hotel. The scheme, which is expected to attract 24 million visitors, is located ap-
proximately 15 km east of Delhi’s city centre at a busy road junction and intersection of two bustling metro lines.
The complex is served by two entrances and equipped with a fully-integrated 600-space multi-storey car park. The landscaped pedestrian mall is built around a central street with an ornamental pond, a children’s games area and street furniture. The 13,000 sq m site comprises 10,000 sq m of shops, 1,500 sq m of restaurants, and 1,500 sq m of leisure areas, accommodating 18 brands, complementing the existing commercial offer in Grand Épagny and Annecy. Anticipated retailers include Célio, JD Sports, Sephora store, Boulanger, Black Store and the sportswear brand BoardRiders, while Berliner, Côté Sushi and Paul are among the F&B brands.
Central Parc represents an investment of €35m for the Compagnie de Phalsbourg, which has prioritised working with local businesses. The programme is being carried out under a construction lease signed with the CCI, which retains ownership of the land, while Compagnie de Phalsbourg will act as the owner-operator for a period of 50 years.
Lucio Guerra, partner of Design International
CBRE’s Chris Gardener believes the bottom of the market has been called
Kings Cross developer plans ‘new town’ for north London
THE COMPANY behind a major new mixed-use multi-phase project on the scale of a “new town for London” is in Cannes to meet with potential retail and leisure partners.
Related Argent, which is best known for delivering the redevelopment of the commercial area around King’s Cross railway station in London, is at the beginning of the process of leasing space in its next big project at Brent Cross in the north of the capital.
The firm’s head of retail is in Cannes and said that it is “in the market” and actively speaking with retailers with a view to securing deals on the future site’s shopping spaces.
James Rayner, head of retail at Related Argent, is at MAPIC to showcase the £8bn project — a joint venture with local authority Barnet Council — and to meet with retailers and leisure operators.
He said that the ambitious scale of
the project, which will cover 180 acres (73 ha) of space, and its open streetscape design, equates to a “new town for London” and a big step forward in the capital’s growth.
that people know, independent London retail businesses and local-hero independents. London is a great place to find businesses like that.”
The Brent Cross Town project entails huge spaces of London being converted to a full spectrum of uses and occupancies, from healthcare centres, residential spaces, retail, leisure, food and 50 acres of parkland.
Rayner said: “We’re in the market, especially looking at the ‘first five’ big retail units. I’m looking to develop a curated mix of everyday brands
It will be connected to central London via the Thameslink line, making it a 12-minute journey to King’s Cross station, and will include 6,700 new homes, 50 shops and cafes, and some 300,000 sq m of office space. “We want to bring a diverse, multi-generational mix of people to the town centre,” Rayner said. “A lot of it is about how you enliven the public-realm space and turn it into somewhere people want to spend time. It’s about building a proper community place.”
Related Argent’s James Rayner
Milan project mixes classical and modernity with high-end design
GLOBAL real estate company Colliers, together with asset managers Praemia, have launched the Spazio Quadrilatero project at MAPIC, a development that aims to deliver a fusion of tradition and modernity in the heart of Milan’s fashion core. The project involves the renovation of a building in the historical Quadrilatero della Moda, including high-end retail spaces, upgraded offices with a focus on energy efficiency, premium materials and design.
“We are launching this project based on the regeneration of one of the main streets in Milan — we are in the fashion district,” Niccolo Suardi, head of high street, Italy, and co-head EMEA retail at Colliers, told MAPIC News. “The asset is located in the Via Bagutta which is a famous Milanese street. It is very exclusive. It is very intimate. We have 10 stores — not a hundred. In Milan the streets are not
so long,” he said.
The property spans seven floors above ground and two underground levels, covering a total area of 3,200 sq m and delivery of the redevelopment is projected for Q4 2025 or Q1 2026, allowing 18 to 24 months for refurbishment.
‘We have 10 stores — not a hundred. In Milan the streets are not so long’
“The focus will be on a mixed-use building with offices and retail. We will have approximately 1,000 sq m of offices from the second floor to the top, where we have a very
beautiful terrace with an overview of Milan,” Suardi said. The scheme includes more than 1,000 sq m of retail over three floors — first floor, ground floor and basement.
“We can also offer F&B spaces as we have an internal courtyard over the terrace that we can use for F&B. We have another little terrace on the first floor as well,” he said.
Once a landmark for artists and intellectuals, today the area hosts some of the world’s most prestigious brands. Its connection to iconic streets including Via Monte Napoleone and Via della Spiga underscores its role in the world of haute couture.
The recent redevelopment of Piazza San Babila, which is directly connected to Via Bagutta, has brought a new vitality into the area, which has also seen the opening of new commercial spaces aa well as the transformation of the Garage
Launch your next startup competition, student challenge, hackathon, and company awards with Agorize.
We are proud to operate the MAPIC startup scouting program.
Let's meet during MAPIC, call:
Paul: +33(0)6 66 27 00 69
Louis: +33(0)6 48 74 20 64
Traversi by Louis Vuitton. The scheme’s website, video teaser and brochure have been launched at MAPIC and the project officially goes on the market in January next year.
Colliers’ Niccolo Suardi
09.00 - 10.00
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
Networking Breakfast
Women in retail property sharing experience
An opportunity to network with leading female retail and real estate professionals.
- 10.45
Cross-border development in the restaurant industry
Retail and property AI:
Optimise, personalise, communicate
• A new tool to engage with tenants and consumers
• Making AI add up: Optimising physical retail efficiency with AI
• Tailor-made futures: Communication and personalisation 10.00 - 10.30
Better than new: Bringing locations back to life
• Learn from the latest transformations about extensions and repurposing
• Understanding the economics of redevelopment and achieving ROI
• The social, commercial and long term regeneration benefits of improving and refocusing destinations
11.30 - 12.00
Retail without frontiers
• How to make international retail expansion work across multiple regions
• Adjusting to global consumers while maintaining the brand DNA
• Finding the right location, format and footprint in each market
10.30 - 11.00 Retail Keynote
15.00 - 15.30
Putting the community at the heart of a project’s success
• How developers and landlords are reframing regeneration for the community
• Embracing local input to create relevant and long-term destinations
• Building relationships to give communities a sense of ownership and place
A new road for high-street and city centre retail
10.45 - 11.15
Food Keynote They are doing it:
Alan Francis Honan VP Head of International Development
Leisure Pitch
Your chance to hear from new leisure concepts and formats.
Investors powering restaurant growth
• Maximising opportunities: Working with investors to capture their skills
• How cross border F&B operators should attract investors
• Differentiation in a crowded market 11.30 - 12.00
12.15 - 12.45
The development of immersive dining experiences
• How to adapt and evolve an F&B offer to provide truly immersive experiences
• Financing immersive experiences: Finding the ROI in creative formats
• Setting trends, influencing the next wave of F&B operators
Winner revealed at 11.30 - 12.00
Digital Transformation in Retail: Redefining the Shopping Experience
Followed by a cocktail at 11.30
• Building an integrated digital ecosystem for shopping centres
• Future-proofing the portfolio with a relevant and sustainable digital approach
• Generating valuable consumer insights, increasing tenant visibility, and ensuring maximum returns for both tenants and investors
Organised by 11.00 - 12.00
14.00 - 14.30
Le commerce à l’heure du bas carbone : le référentiel Association Bâtiment Bas Carbone dévoilé pour le neuf, la rénovation et l’exploitation
Organised by
Retail without border: international expansion pitching & networking session Mapic special retailers’ selection for landlords: come and listen to retail and leisure brands set for international expansion in France, UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Winner revealed at 14.30 - 15.00
This session is in French
15.00 - 15.30
Turning stores into media platforms
• What the new generation of retail media networks mean for stores and malls
• Data capture and technology mark a step-change for retail media
• Blended earnings: As stores become media platforms, what it means for performance
• How retail is helping transform Europe’s high streets and urban centres
• Why town centres are a vital part of the new retail equation
•The right high street mix: Leisure, retail, services and innovation 16.00 - 16.30
17.00 - 18.30
Italy Forum Retail Real Estate in Italy, challenges and strategies
• Shopping Centers: a new lease of life
• Shopping Centers and Retailers: an essential partnership
• New management model for Shopping Centers: a winning partnership between Landlords and Tenants driving benefits for visitors and communities
Pérenniser les offres de loisir : entre adaptation et innovation
• Cinq ans après : quel bilan pour le développement d’offres de loisir en centres commerciaux et centres villes ?
• Quels sont les enjeux de localisation pour l’offre de loisir ?
• Quelles perspectives pour les développements de demain ? 14.30 - 15.00
This session is in French
15.30 - 16.00
Talking about my generation
• Gen Z: Hear from these influential consumers on their top priorities
• Discuss the future of destinations and stores with next gen shoppers
• Great expectations: How to appeal to youthful consumers
PREMIUM NETWORKING EVENTS
08.30 - 10.00
ECSP Retail & Leasing Group Annual Meeting
This meeting and work-group of pan-European retailers and leasing organisations will discuss current market topics, creating recommendations and proposals for common solutions and networking.
This event is organised by ECSP and supported by MAPIC
10.30 - 12.30
French Summit Session in French
14.00 - 15.30
Retail without border: international expansion pitching & networking sessionFood & Beverage
Mapic special F&B retailers’ selection for landlords: come and listen to retail and leisure brands set for international expansion in France, UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Winner revealed at 15.45 - 16.15
17.00 - 17.30
Mapic Academy Finalists Pitch Tomorrow brands are born at MAPIC! MAPIC has selected 5 young retail brands and will support their development through a mentorship programme. The selected brands will pitch their concept to a Jury of real estate companies taking part in the initiative.
16.00 - 16.30
Innovation Pitch
Discover the latest innovations to increase the performance of your stores and retail destinations.
(by invitation only) VERRIÈRE GRAND AUDITORIUM (Palais
16.30 - 18.30
Leisure Summit
This special summit focuses on the French retail and real estate market and provides a unique opportunity to learn from and network with the leading players.
Workshop: AI, new business challenges
Join an interactive workshop which offers insights into how AI will influence the legal and contractual elements of retail real estate.
Get insights on the latest trends in leisure, discover new leisure concepts and key projects integrating leisure in lifestyle destinations and network with a targeted audience.
This event brings together leisure operators, landlords, cities and retailers.
Palais -1
Palais -1
Palais -1
Riviera 7
1)
Didier Roche, Co-founder Dans le Noir ?
Hear them speak today at MAPIC
Marie Cheval CEO CARMILA
Antoine Grolin Chairman NHOOD & CEETRUS
Pascal Clausse Senior Vice President Global Retail SALOMON
Ricardo Rosa Director, Digital Mall Business Development
SONAE SIERRA
Nigel Keen Chief Property Development Officer JD SPORTS
Angélique Houbre Head of Retail Asset Management LASALLE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT FRANCE
Marek Noetzel Chief Operating Officer NEPI
Luca Turco CEO PRAEMIA REIM ITALY
Matthew Dadd Executive Director - Commercial & Leasing SAUDI ENTERTAINMENT VENTURES (SEVEN)
Clément Jeannin Group Director of Sustainability UNIBAIL-RODAMCO-WESTFIELD
Clémentine Pacitti Chief sustainability Officer KLÉPIERRE
Arnaud van Coppenolle Sr Director, International Development KRISPY KREME
Antoine Frey Chairman and Chief Executive Officer FREY
Philippe Journo Président-Fondateur COMPAGNIE DE PHALSBOURG
Didier Roche Co-fondateur DANS LE NOIR?
And many more… Check the full conference programme
MALL & MARKET TARGETS MOROCCO MODERNISATION
FRENCH consultancy and commercial urban-planning specialist, Mall & Market, is at MAPIC having recently forged a new strategic partnership.
The firm has joined forces with architect Arte Charpentier and Moroccan project-development company Atlas Capital Investment to create the Urban & Retail Strategies – Morocco group, designed to support the modernisation of the retail and commercial real estate sector in Morocco.
The partners said they were united by common values and a shared vision and their objective is to support the development of the retail sector in Morocco by offering 360-degree solutions for brands, lessors, investors, and communities.
DEICHMANN TAKES ON ESPRIT BRAND
GERMAN shoe retailer Deichmann has acquired the rights to market and distribute footwear under the Esprit brand in Europe and the US. The deal is part of Esprit’s ongoing insolvency restructuring. Esprit Deutschland and Esprit Holdings, Hong Kong, signed a binding agreement with the Essen-based Deichmann. The agreement provides for the acquisition of the Esprit trademark rights and other intangible assets for Europe. Deichmann is Europe’s biggest footwear retailer, selling own brands and major sports brands including Nike, Adidas and Fila. The company is active in 34 countries worldwide, employs over 49,000 people and operates around 4,700 stores, as well as 41 online shops.
Outlets are different from other retail outlets, Summit hears
THE OUTLET Summit on Tuesday at the Verrière Grand Audi brought together around 100 participants including outlet developers, retailers, investors, leisure players, property-service providers and local authorities.
Attendees at the networking lunch event had the opportunity to exchange views and experiences of the outlet sector and debate the latest market trends, and were encouraged to switch tables during the lunch to meet a range of participants.
In his introductory overview Ken Gunn, managing director, Ken Gunn Consulting, addressed the key drivers of success for outlets. Apart from the price, consumers are looking for a much broader experience, he said.
“What sets outlets apart from other retail real estate is the fact that the consumer views outlets as unique destinations. It’s not something that they do every day. They think differently when they come to outlets and their expectations are different as well.”
Gunn stressed the importance of accessibility — how easy it is to get to your outlet, along with the need for
relevance in terms of brands and having the right stock and the right sizes and colours.
Outlets also need to have uniqueness and deliver a clear point of difference.
“What’s beautiful about the outlet industry now is that you can see many, many different ways of doing outlets and we all rub along together with these different ways because we’re all doing slightly different things and offering something different,” he said. “We must always remember that our outlet customer loves outlet and they’ll visit more than one outlet centre in the course of a year — they
will visit as many as they can.”
Discovery was highlighted as another key driver, and Gunn pointed out that some outlet customers are a little bit older and are inclined to come back and rediscover the brands that they grew up with and they love. They are also the most likely to experiment with new brands when they visit.
“The challenge for us to is make sure our guests leave happier than when they arrive. If we can do that then we’ve been successful,” he said.
The event was sponsored by Bhumi World Factory Outlet, Arcus Real Estate and OCI.
Lane7 looks to Europe for expansion
BOWLING and gaming leisure operator Lane7 is celebrating 10 years of growth and an active expansion strategy that has seen it take its first steps into mainland Europe.
The UK-based company has signed for 12,000 sq m of new space in eight separate deals this year alone, and just last month opened its first site outside the UK.
That venue, which opened at The Playce in Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, marks the beginning of a new phase of expansion that will see Lane7 take its place in the competitive European leisure sector.
And in early 2025 Lane7 will open two new venues in Dublin, its first move into the Republic of Ireland.
Lane7 was founded in the UK in 2013 by entrepreneur Tim Wilks, who opened the company’s first venue in Newcastle, since when it has opened 20
venues, all city-centre locations, and established a presence in 18 cities.
As well as offering bowling lanes, the venues include an array of games and sports attractions including karaoke, pool, darts and beer pong.
Now the company is ready to press ahead with plans for 10 new venues over the next two years, adding 18,000
sq m by the end of next year alone. Wilks is in Cannes to meet with potential partners in the leisure property world, and to discuss future deals in European cities.
He said: “Over the next couple of years we’re transitioning to a point where most of our growth is going to be in Europe.
“After 10 years the UK is very mature in terms of being used to this concept.
The European markets are less mature.
“We’re looking for partnerships, and working together with landlords. We’ve had a lot of interest at MAPIC already.”
In the decade since Lane7 was founded, the company has diversified its offer, with a number of formats of varying size and concept now available. These are the original Lane7 format, Gutterball, aimed at adults, and the more youth and family-orientated Level X brand.
Lane7 founder Tim Wilks
The Outlet Summit
New money spurs a drive in transactions after slow year
ONE OF Europe’s leading commentators on real estate capital markets has said that there are strong signs of increased volumes over the next 12 months despite a year-on-year drop in transactions in the first three quarters of 2024.
Sandra Ludwig, head of EMEA retail capital markets at JLL, has said that positive signs are already emerging that big transactions are back on the agenda, driven by new capital coming into the European and US markets.
She said: “There’s already much more activity in the markets. Transactions are happening, but there has been a lack of really big transactions so far.
“Looking at 2025 I’m pretty confident that volumes will move up and it’ll be easier to do bigger transactions because financing will be easier to find.”
She added: “There’ll be more new capital and private equity moving into the market.”
Ludwig pointed to recent transactions — including two big retail deals by Blackstone in the US — as signs of increased confidence and stability which, in turn, would contribute to
further optimism across capital markets around the world.
In Europe, she said, big deals such as NEPI Rockcastle’s September acquisition of the 100,000 sq m Magnolia Park shopping centre in Poland were signs of increased activity.
Ludwig added that there were also positive signs of new investment activity within secondary shopping centres, again driven by the introduction of new sources of funding and capital, including money from private equity.
“People are back and they are taking their chances, which is great,” she said. However JLL research shows that retail is still under pressure throughout the EMEA region, more so than other sectors.
The retail sector reported transactions of €18.6bn in the first three quarters of 2024 combined, a drop of 12% on the figures for the same period last year. In contrast, the residential and logistics asset classes both rose year-on-year, by 18% and 23% respectively.
Learning about shoppers from social media
DIGITAL technology can transform the relationship between shopping centres, consumers and tenants. That was the message brought to MAPIC by Diana Pinto director of digital mall marketing at multinational real estate business Sonae Sierra.
“We are developing a social-media strategy so we can create this sense of an ‘event arena’ around our shopping centres. We are launching it this year which is why we are here,” Pinto told MAPIC News. The strategy will give added value to tenants, asset owners and partners, by connecting shopping centres with consumer’s daily lives and their agenda and nurturing a sense of belonging between the malls and consumers lives. “So that we can be part of their lives even when they are not in the mall. That’s the point,” she said.
“In Portugal we are solid players in the field of shopping centres. We are
masters of physical traffic. We want to bring this physical strength into the digital arena and the way that we are doing that is through a digital social-media strategy,” she said.
Sonae Sierra has developed digital tools aimed at filling the gap between the physical and the digital worlds — creating search tools designed to en-
GARMIN TO OPEN FIRST UK STORE AT WESTQUAY
HAMMERSON, which announced the acquisition of the remaining 50% stake in Westquay in Southampton for £135m in November, has attracted smartwatch and GPS-enabled technology specialist Garmin for its first store in the UK at the centre.
Garmin opened a 244 sq m store at the retail and leisure destination in November. The new store sits close to Garmin’s European headquarters in Romsey, Hampshire which it set up more than 30 years ago.
able shoppers to prepare for their visit to shopping destinations.
“In the physical store the consumer can find the product that the retailers sell, so we created some search tools so the consumer can better plan their visit to the shopping centre,” she said.
“We are adding these digital tools into our websites and our apps so that the gap between the physical and the digital can be shorter,” she said.
Another pillar of the strategy is to introduce an element of gaming with the intention of encouraging the consumer to repeat their visit. “We have a programme which stimulates recurrency so that the consumer keeps coming back,” she said.
Pinto will be outlining the strategy in the Digital Transformation in Retail: Redefining the Shopping Experience session on the Innovation Stage today at 11.00.
Toby Tait, director of asset management at Hammerson, said the maiden UK store provided a space for Garmin to bring its full collection of devices into one brand experience for customers.
“We were quick to understand Garmin’s critical requirement for the right space in the right location to showcase the brand,” he said.
Westquay attracts more than 17 million visitors a year and retailers include John Lewis, M&S, Zara and Hugo Boss as well as a cinema, bowling and a range of dining options.
The acquisition of the remaining stake in Westquay was funded by the proceeds from Hammerson’s recent disposal of its stake in Value Retail. In October Hammerson completed refinancing transactions to underpin its growth strategy, following the successful issuance of its 12-year £400m bond.
Hammerson’s Westquay shopping centre, Southampton
Sonae Sierra’s Diana Pinto
JLL’s Sandra Ludwig
NEW SHOPPING HABITS REQUIRE NEW DATA TECH
RETAIL insight specialist Sensormatic is marking the 20th anniversary of its first visit to MAPIC and the big changes in the industry and shopper habits in that time. The firm — which has developed a suite of data products for retailers and real estate owners — is in Cannes to meet with potential partners and showcase its technology to the markets. Its offerings include technology to monitor and measure footfall, shopper traffic patterns and demographic data, among other tools.
Sensormatic vice-president and product general manager for shopper experience Nick Pompa said that the company had witnessed significant changes in shopping habits and requirements from landlords and property owners.
He said: “Landlords used to be more focused on volumes of shoppers, but there’s been a shift towards understanding things like the age, demographics and gender of visitors.”
Pompa said that changing attitudes to design and architecture have seen mixed-use centres and retail-led schemes become more complex, spread out and open-plan, and therefore more challenging to monitor.
“What we’ve seen over 20 years is that the retail property market has much more mixed and flexible spaces. The environments have become much more flexible and landlords want to know how they’re performing,” he said.
Sensormatic has two HQs, one in Chicago in the US, and one in Solihull in Britain. It has a presence in 115 counties globally, serving 1,200 shopping centres and 100,000 retail tenants.
Investors should see retail as a long-term proposition
PLACEMAKING and creating unique retail-led assets are more important than ever because landlords are “competing for people’s attention” as never before, a senior figure at one of the UK’s largest real estate investment firms has said.
Pablo Sueiras, head of brand account management at Landsec, said that the need to create and curate one-off, mixed-use spaces has driven far more creativity in the way asset managers develop their sites.
Speaking to the MAPIC News, Sueiras said: “You have to differentiate each asset. Every asset has to excel at something.”
He added that shifts in consumer attitudes and habits over the past decade meant that centre owners could no longer rely on customers visiting their sites simply to shop. “A centre has to be as experience-focused as it can be. We’re competing with everything that takes
people’s time and spend away. The experience has to be compelling,” he said. According to Sueiras continuing uncertainty caused by political volatility in Europe and the US — cited by investors as prime causes of caution over
VIA Outlets ‘promises growth’ for top brands
VIA OUTLETS, the fast-growing owner operator of European fashion outlets, is in Cannes with a promise of continuous growth for premium brands. “That’s what we can offer, and that’s the message we have here at MAPIC. We meet with our key clients and discuss the business of tomorrow,” said chief operating officer Johan Caspar Bergenthal.
Reflecting on a successful year Bergen-
thal pointed to the extensive remodelling and expansion of VIA Outlet’s Sevilla Fashion Outlet, which added nearly 4,000 sq m to the centre and added double-digit growth as it welcomed new brands including Karl Lagerfeld, Nike and Boss. This was a great example of VIA Outlet’s three-R strategy — remerchandising, remodelling and remarketing — in full swing, he said.
“We never stop. We are always remo-
retail property — highlighted the need for owners to improve their own assets “to focus on what we can control, and on having the very best product”. Landsec owns major regional centres including Bluewater in Kent, St David’s in Cardiff, and the Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow. The company is currently engaged in a significant redevelopment project on the site that once housed Debenhams in Cardiff, Wales. If planning permissions are granted the works will see the demolition of the former department-store building to clear the way for the creation of a new city square, which will be named St David’s Square. The new square would include public realm, leisure and green space. “We’re investors for the long term,” Sueiras said. “We believe in retail long term. We believe in the long-term potential of our best destinations, the potential of prime spaces and experience-led places.”
delling and remarketing. We have approximately €100m of investment in the pipeline and in execution already.” In Portugal, in Vila Do Conde Porto, the company is preparing an extension which will be delivered by the end of 2025, adding almost another 5,000 sq m. ”And we are doing the same in Switzerland at Landquart, serving the greater Zurich area, which is also almost 5,000 sq m with 14 units which we will deliver in early Q1 2026.”
“Over the year we have also seen growth in one particular category which was health and beauty. The front runner for us is Rituals. We have them now open in seven of our 11 malls,” he added.
Landsec’s Pablo Sueiras
Sensormatic’s Nick Pompa
Via Outlet’s
Johan Caspar Bergenthal
KEAN development will be ‘transformative’ for Cyprus
BBF, UHA and CYBERFUND are at MAPIC this week to present the KEAN development, on which the trio of companies are working together. The “transformative” project will involve a large-scale redevelopment of the coastal area in Limassol in Cyprus. The site, which covers around 58,000 sq m in total, has previously been home to the historic KEAN juice factory. The redevelopment aims to create a new Mediterranean hub for global retail and business.
The KEAN site faces the largest coastal path in Limassol and offers a rare opportunity to redevelop land which does not usually become available at such scale, according to Jonas Upton-Hansen, founder and director of London-based architect UHA which is working on the scheme.
“It allows us to provide an entire development with a resort-style feel,” he said. Upton-Hansen explained it would be a “true mixed-use development” offering 258 luxury apart-
ments ranging from studios to fivebed penthouses across 37,500 sq m of residential space, 18,000 sq m of office space and 6,300 sq m of amenities including a gym and kids club.
Retail will be a key element.
“At the front of the development the public plaza will become a new retail plaza of luxury retail and F&B,”
Upton-Hansen said. It will include 2,500 sq m of retail space, as well as an additional 400 sq m retail pavilion which will be a flagship store.
He said the companies would be looking at the retail mix but that it had to fit the brand concept.
“We are at MAPIC looking at attracting retail partners for the plaza but it’s very important that we find the right partners with brand equity that is synonymous with the development,” he added.
Upton-Jonas said that it is hoped that phase one will launch next year with construction beginning at the end of 2025.
Location is key to upturn in Europe
PRIME mass-market high streets in Europe are attracting strong occupational demand as retailers and leisure operators show increasing appetite to “back bricks and mortar”, new research shows.
Data from international agency Savills, released this week, shows strong year-on-year rental growth on mass-market high streets where vacancy rates, “fuelled by strengthening occupier demand”, have fallen back to pre-2019 levels.
The research shows a 9.9% rental growth on European mass-market high streets in the third quarter of 2024 compared with the same period the previous year. Savills defines mass market as “well-located, high-traffic retail areas that serve a broad consumer base”.
The new research also shows a strong if slightly slower recovery on luxury high streets, where a year-on-year Q3 rental growth of 5.9% was recorded. Savills reports vacancy rates on luxury high streets remaining above pre-2019 levels.
Larry Brennan, head of European Retail Agency at Savills, said: “The strong high-street rental performance across Europe’s prime high streets is directly linked to the contraction of vacancy rates.
TURKEY: ‘THE TURNAROUND IS COMING’
AVI ALKAŞ, chairman of Alkaş Consulting, which aims to provide project development, leasing and management services to the shopping centre and retail industry in Turkey, believes that MAPIC offers an invaluable networking opportunity for all those attending. “We have 200-plus Turkish delegates here so the networking ability is very useful and very important,” he said.
“Retailers continue to show commitment to the best-quality space in the best pitches — opportunities that are increasingly constrained across an increasing number of prime streets.
“We expect this occupational demand to remain buoyant as retailers’ strategies back bricks and mortar,” he said. However, the retail and leisure sectors are still facing big challenges in less well-situated streets outside the main European urban centres, where doubts and uncertainties remain.
Marie Hickey, director in commercial research at Savills, added: “Looking ahead to next year, macro-economic conditions will continue to shape the occupier landscape. Mounting uncertainty may temper occupier confidence, but we believe this will have little read through to prime streets.
“Southern Europe will continue to be a lead performer, as will mass-market streets in the core markets of London and Paris, with Germany set to emerge as a new hotspot.”
Alkaş was responsible for introducing the mall concept to Turkey in the late 1980s and launched his consulting business in 1997. He is also a former chairman of JLL Turkey. “I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been here at MAPIC.
Having served the retail and real estate market in Turkey for more than 30 years this is like the Champions League — all the leading brands and solution providers are here and I’ve learned a lot from participating in MAPIC over the years,” he said.
He added that the event had offered a valuable platform during that time to showcase Turkey to global investors looking for serious investment opportunities. Alkaş said that despite recent challenges in the Turkish market such opportunities still remain. “Turkey is going through a difficult and struggling time in terms of the economy and inflation but we still need to be coming to MAPIC so that when better times come, we will be ready to promote the market further. The turnaround is coming,” he said.
Avi Alkaş, chairman of Alkaş & Han Spaces
Savills predicts that Paris will be among Europe’s top performers.
Jonas Upton-Hansen, founder and director of UHA
Don’t believe the rumours: outlet’s are in good health
THE DESIGNER-outlet market is thriving, according to Mike Natas, McArthurGlen Group’s managing director of development. “The death of the outlet centre is not correct. We are still growing and succeeding. It’s an experience, a day out and good value. It’s not just sitting at home clicking on Amazon,” he said.
His comments are supported by McArthurGlen Group’s latest results, published yesterday, which reveal that total turnover from its portfolio of 24 centres across Europe and Canada rose by 7% year-to-date vs 2023.
The results were driven by a steady increase in footfall of 4%, and a 3% rise in average spend per visitor. The company estimates total sales of nearly €6bn by the end of the year.
“We’ve found there is a definitely a place for physical retail. Outlet customers like it and tourists like it — it’s a winning formula,” Natas said.
International tourism spend is also strong, with year-to-date tax-free sales up 13% on last year — surpas-
Hupalupa
sing pre-pandemic levels — and increased visitors from the Eastern Mediterranean region, including Turkey, as well as a steady return of customers from Greater China.
McArthurGlen is working on the next phases of several of its centres. Phase three of the Vancouver Designer Outlet will see an additional 6,000 sq m and 27 new luxury and
expansion kicks
HUPALUPA, a Turkish family entertainment provider celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, is looking to expand internationally and is at MAPIC to connect with potential investors and industry stakeholders wanting to reimagine the future of family entertainment and retail.
The Hupalupa offer comprises a series of sub-brands, including Hupalupa FEC — the company’s immersive family-entertainment centres which include trampoline parks and climbing walls; its exhibitions space offers Hupalupa Expo and Hupalupa Go which comprise experiential on-the-go concepts and were created after the pandemic. The range of entertainment options also includes the Hupalupa Store, which offers selected toys and stationery.
Here at MAPIC for the second year, Merve Timurlenk Sengül, executive board member at Hupalupa, said the company wanted to extend its offer to different countries in the world with Europe an initial target. Hupalupa
currently offers two of its full-scale family-entertainment centres in Turkey.
The minimum size of the FEC offer starts at 2,000 sq m but Timurlenk Sengül said there was no upper limit to the size. “We can combine a unique design for different places,” she said.
Such schemes also attract a wide audience to shopping centres, she added.
“We describe ourselves as a leisure hub.
We are new anchor players for a mall.
This is different from traditional anchors offering an opportunity to take
premium stores, including brands new to the centre and store relocations. Work on the project will start in the first quarter of next year with the opening planned for spring 2026. The company is also working on the next phase of Designer Outlet West Midlands, the first phase of which opened in 2021. The second phase will see the addition of around 6,000 sq m and 25 stores. It is scheduled to open in 2026 with construction due to begin next summer.
Additional phases for Designer Outlet Málaga, Designer Outlet Castel Romano and Designer Outlet Roosendaal are all in planning. As well as the extensions, McArthurGlen Group continues to attract new brands. By the end of the year, the company will have welcomed over 60 new brand partners to its portfolio and opened more than 350 stores, equal to around 10,000 sq m of GLA. These include luxury brands such as Alexander McQueen, Hoff and Marc Jacobs.
off in
Europe
different people into the mall,” she said.
“We give fun to kids but also create an environment for parents and grandparents to take pleasure together,” she said. Its physical focus also offers parents the welcome ability to take children and teenagers away from their screens and get them moving.
“It attracts any age. We have toddler spaces for smaller kids through to teenagers who can come and jump on the trampolines while parents and grandparents can go bowling,” she said.
INTRODUCING BHUMI WORLD
INDIA’s Bhumi World is attending MAPIC to showcase its Bhumi World Factory Outlet. Spanning 12 acres (five hectares), the retail hub is India’s first international-standard factory-outlet mall, featuring more than 100 lifestyle brands and 55 F&B brands, including food courts and trucks, a threestorey food avenue building, and a drive-thru. The scheme also boasts an amphitheatre with 2,000+ seating, live shows, a mini plex and gaming for all ages. The entertainment arena will feature virtual-gaming zones, kids courtyards, a bowling alley and a softplay area for toddlers.
The Factory Outlet is located in front of the 150-acre Bhumi World Industrial Park, a manufacturing industrial park at Bhiwandi, in Thane district, a suburban area of Mumbai which offers connectivity between Mumbai, Nashik and Navi Mumbai.
Speaking at the MAPIC Outlet Summit, Murtuza Kutianawala, director, hospitality and events, Bhumi World, said: “Bhumi World actually started in 2008 and since then we’ve been entering each sector as we learn and understand this retail market.”
“We started as an industrial-estate company. We possess close to 400 acres of land in Bhiwandi. We have developed close to 2,500 units which are operational and functional at this point in time. In the last three to four years, we decided to enter the D2C segment where consumers could exchange with a lot of retail brands and that’s when we saw a lot of growth,” Kutianawala said.
Bhumi World’s Murtuza Kutianawala
Mike Natas, managing director of development at McArthurGlen Group
Kaan Şengül, Merve Timurlenk Şengül, Emre Şener and llknur Timurlenk, executive board members of Hupalupa
Real estate managers turn to potential of AI
Many claims have been made about the AI revolution, but while it has not yet fulfilled all the hype, shoppingcentre managers are increasingly turning to the use of AI to better understand their customers and to inform their strategies. Isobel Lee reports
THE RISE of chatbots and virtual assistants — for example ChatGPT — in recent years, has brought AI into our everyday lives. While as yet the technology has neither entirely fulfilled fears of eliminating jobs, nor solved as many pain points as some might have hoped, it remains one of society’s most exciting areas of growth.
In the retail industry, some 80% of executives expect their companies will use AI technologies by 2025, and 40% already use some form of it, according to the digital publication Analytics Insight. And for most lan-
dlords, tenants and end-users in retail, AI’s potential applications seem to be expanding exponentially.
Boosting efficiency in everything from inventory management to the customer experience, AI has been called one of the chief tools supercharging online and physical retail today.
“Now the AI market has matured slightly, there is less of a concern about AI eliminating jobs, and more of a focus on how it can help people be more effective and efficient in their work,” says Ben Yexley, head of business development at AI-powered automation specialist
“This
kind of technology enables us to better understand our shopping centres”
Christoph Olschowsky
Askporter. “Now thought leaders are utilising AI to get more things done without significant additional expenditure,” he adds.
Yexley says that Askporter is currently in talks with one of the world’s largest online retailers about improving downtimes at their sorting and packing locations. “They are hoping to use AI and smart diagnostics onsite to increase their uptimes, in a business where minutes make a lot of difference to efficiency and ongoing costs.”
He says that AI also has multiple applications in facilities management for real estate, tackling a wide range of tasks across property portfolios while keeping costs down. “A lot of the operators we work with say that, while their contract values aren’t increasing by much, or their bud-
gets are tight, customer expectations keep rising. AI is an important tool for improving customer satisfaction, without eating into already slender margins,” he says.
Software-as-a-service platform Wishibam has been helping retailers and public entities digitise their B2C and B2B activities, prioritising the creation of a seamless omnichannel experience for customers.
Founder and CEO Charlotte Journo-Baur decided to launch the firm after working with major players in the physical retail sector on ecommerce profitability issues.
Coming from a long line of retailers, Journo-Baur perceived that physical retailing needed a pragmatic digital approach to make it work. She says that the Wishibam ethos is about “reconciling the practicality of online with the in-store experience to create a customer-centric experience”.
With Wishibam committing some €1m annually to R&D investment, Journo-Baur says that “retail has to reinvent itself”. She adds: “Our solution is designed to integrate omnichannel effectively, without disrupting your operations. We are obsessed with meeting our customers’ needs. We put our energy and talent into reinventing commerce and ensuring its diversity.”
International real estate specialist Sonae Sierra, which has an experienced shopping-centre management arm, has been exploring how AI can enhance its business. Last year, the firm teamed up with Foot-
prints AI, an AI-native retail-media platform that uses indoor and online behavioural data to create a comprehensive view of customer behaviour.
The two companies collaborated on a pilot project at ParkLake Shopping Center in Romania to explore new revenue streams for shopping centres by using AI to collect and crunch shopper data.
Ricardo Rosa, head of innovation at Sonae Sierra, says that with the right application, data becomes invaluable.
“With this platform, we can deliver a personalised experience to our customers, while generating new revenue streams for our shopping centres,” he says. “The pilot project at ParkLake Shopping Center was a success, and we are excited to see how this technology can help us continue to grow and evolve as a company.”
ECE, a leading German real estate company operating over 200 shopping centres in 12 European countries, has worked with Cauliflower AI on data-backed analysis. In a recent project, Cauliflower turned to secondary-data source Google Maps to understand what customers liked about 250 shopping centres across Germany, operating over more than 10,000 sq m of retail space. By scraping some 30,000 Google Maps reviews, the AI platform was able to extract views on key topics like food and fashion, as well as size up the competition between shopping centres.
Christoph Olschowsky, head of re-
search, data insights and analytics at ECE, says that this kind of technology “enables us to better understand our shopping centres and their catchment area operationally in terms of our visitors’ perceptions”. This in turn allows the business to “strategically complement and develop market-relevant topics such as USP, image and positioning with this information”.
While AI’s primacy in analysing the vast amounts of data that real estate generates is creating new insights, its computing power is also helping supply side issues in retail.
AI’s ability to forecast consumer trends helps tackle the challenges of inventory management. This can not only reduce waste and improve sustainability metrics, but also lowers the need for warehouse space and other logistics costs. The technology can also filter trends by geography and even micro-region to make sure that the right buyers are being targeted. Meanwhile, its ability to compare pricing and crunch market data helps retailers reach the right ticket price, achieve realistic sales and monitor the competition. When it comes to online sales, AI is also assisting the personalisation of retail by analysing browsing habits and providing the right promotions at the right time. But while tech applications in retail are increasingly exciting, landlords and tenants also need to stay aware of its relative risks.
In the most recent edition of Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe by PwC, 59% of real estate professionals surveyed describe cybersecurity as a key concern relating to the rise of AI. The worry is that in the midst of the industry’s rush to embrace proptech and AI, it may not have been paying sufficient attention to the vulnerabilities that come with it.
On a more positive note, the survey showed that greater numbers of real estate professionals are using AI today than a year ago. The vast majority expect AI to have a large impact on all areas of real estate over the next five years, citing its usefulness for market analysis, as a mass data cruncher and in drawing intelligent conclusions from all the data that real estate generates today.
Askporter’s Ben Yexley
Romania’s ParkLake Shopping Center
Immersive experiences and global brands lead new wave of leisure
A host of IP-backed leisure experiences and immersive events and destinations have helped redefine the sector and ensured that leisure initiatives continue to play a growing role within retail-led destinations. Isobel Lee reports
WHEN the curtain fell on the Debenhams department store retail empire in the UK in 2021, high streets and shopping centres were often left with huge, vacant units that proved difficult to relet. Yet a recent move by Westfield in London to replace what was Deben-
hams for a Dirty Dancing stage production suggests that leisure has star potential in revamping retail line-ups. In October, Westfield secured entertainment tenant Capital Theatre for a new, permanent 3,300 sq m venue, located on the ground floor of the
former Debenhams unit at Westfield London. The theatre will host Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage as its inaugural production in October 2025, following its success in the West End.
Westfield London is already betting
Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage will be the inaugural production at Westfield’s Capital Theatre
on leisure in a big way, with 16,700 sq m of active leisure space and an additional 7,700 sq m in development. Current attractions include music and events venue Exhibition London, plus mini-golf, climbing and bowling experiences — including Sixes, Puttshack, City Bouldering and All Star Lanes. On top of Capital Theatre, the immersive football experience TOCA Social will also launch in the centre next year. Constantin Wiesmann, director of leasing UK at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), says that the signing of Capital Theatre “reflects the growing demand for immersive, diverse experiences in retail environments and underscores our vision of Westfield as a dynamic destination where culture and entertainment lead the way”.
The role of leisure within the retail universe has come a long way since the days when temporary trampolines and ball parks were brought in provide a stopgap between retail tenancies. Today, it is a crucial element in a finely tuned mix, improving footfall and enhancing dwell time when the concept is right, says Reinhart Viane, business development director of KCC Entertainment Design.
“Entertainment is no longer an element in the corner of a shopping centre, it’s taking centre stage,” he adds. “It has become the glue in a mixed-use or retail environment,” Viane says, adding that destinations which often have the same retailers as neighbouring malls now need unique leisure facilities to help them stand out.
“It’s about creating one location which has something to offer the entire family, where everyone can go and spend hours,” he says. “It is also increasingly easier to convince retail tenants to come to a certain location if you can show them that there is an entertainment concept there which is acting as a magnet for the whole centre.”
Themed entertainment creators KCC know something about standout concepts. Successful openings this year have included a unique physical sports concept called Bonkers which has found a home in Khobar in Saudi Arabia and is now looking for a second location. Another original launch in a social-entertainment format is Boom Room in the Open
Air Mall in Madinaty, Cairo, which is winning over the difficult 16-plus crowd with its mix of F&B and socially oriented gaming. The concept is expected to soon expand across the Middle East. Next year, another KCC social-entertainment project, Juma, will launch in Cannes, in a first for the French city.
For some of the more recent retail destinations — including Battersea Power Station in London — such is the faith in leisure that the centre’s original tenant line-up featured around 50% leisure occupants on its launch in October 2022. The centre has just announced its best summer yet, seeing footfall grow by 17% year-on-year from mid-July to the end of August, thanks to a mix of events, installations and pop-ups.
“Entertainment is no longer an element in the corner of a shopping centre, it’s taking centre stage”
Reinhart Viane
From the Crazy Golf and bar at Birdies to DNA VR — a virtual-reality experience and flagship offering over 50 games — the destination has made a name for itself as somewhere to “see and do” as well as shop.
The latest success stories in leisure often include a sporting dimension, inviting customers to test their skills in unlikely places. Citywave, based out of Germany, has become a leader in standing wave technology, through which it has brought surf experiences to city locations from Tokyo to Zurich. The company was born from a desire to achieve a recreation of the Eisbach River wave in Munich, arguably the world’s most popular river surfing spot.
Walltopia, meanwhile, offers indoor climbing facilities, delivering turnkey projects worldwide and providing innovative climbing products from its own factories. 360 Karting
tracks have also proliferated around the world, offering raceways from Cambodia to New York which prioritise safety and state-of-the-art equipment. Meanwhile, Aerodium has created the world’s most compact indoor skydiving unit with its vertical wind tunnels, and Qubica has brought bowling allies into the 21st century with a host of initiatives.
Some of the fastest growing experiences are backed by global brands, whose intellectual property (IP) is showcased at the intersection of physical and digital. While creating memorable and tangible experiences for users, these opportunities often serve to strengthen loyalty to the brand and its durability. Particularly suited for major world cities where tourism footfall adds to local traffic, experiences like Abba Voyage, War of the Worlds, BBC Earth and Monopoly Lifesized all exemplify the pulling power of bigbrand names.
This year’s LeisurUp will accordingly include a pavilion showcasing more than 10 IP brands, including Hasbro, Smiley and TF1, to connect the sector with some of entertainment’s biggest names.
Yet Viane notes that neither IPdriven nor sports-backed concepts can presume success unless they produce a truly immersive experience. He adds: “IP-backed concepts and sporting experiences can be great, but they have to be immersive in some way — you have to help the visitor make memories in order for them to keep coming back.”
Immersive experiences excel by giving users a sense of being surrounded by or participating in a different and exciting environment or fictional world. Valo Motion has become a leader in this field, turning sports activities into leisure experiences through its high-quality digital games. Users can climb, jump or move freely inside its games at the frontier of mixed-reality.
LeisurUp this year will include an Immersive Zone where attendees can interact with experiences like the Fast & Furious car or explore interactive 3D screens. It is expected to inspire retail landlords and destination managers to take an even bigger leap of faith in their pursuit of engaging and memorable experiences in the coming years.
360 Karting at last year’s MAPIC
KCC’s Reinhart Viane at last year’s MAPIC
PALAIS -1 (Aisle M to N)
CROSS-BORDER RETAIL AT THE HEART OF MAPIC
Meet our handpicked selection of brands poised for ambitious international expansion Walk in our Retail Gallery
Download the Observatory of cross-border retail & food NEW
Meet them at the Retail without border: international expansion pitching & networking session
Sponsored by
Global vertically integrated real estate player
We’re at MAPIC! Join us at stand R7.L9 to discover how we can help you create sustainable value across the entire real estate value chain.
Our vertically integrated services include personalized investment vehicles, sustainable development of mixed-use urban spaces (residential, offices, retail, and leisure), an integrated platform of real estate services, and resilient asset management to meet future challenges.
www.sonaesierra.com
