eKapija | 2017 RETROSPECTIVE – Investments in TRADE CENTERS which have caused the greatest interest among eKapija users

(Photo: kikovic/shutterstock.com)

The investment team of eKapija has performed the analysis and formed the list of investments and investment ideas which caused the greatest interest among our users in 2017. The results are very interesting, some of them expected, though there are lots of surprises as well, which is why we`ve decided to share the information with you.

We present the most interesting projects in the TRADE CENTERS category.

One can never get bored with shopping, it seems. In the year behind us, the long awaited trade centers opened in the Serbian market, and whether its clothing, house appliances or food products, shopping for various items will only increase in 2018.

The names on our current list are well known to eKapija’s readers, and although Belgrade dominates in the number of square meters of commercial space, Sombor, Lazarevac, Kraljevo, Smederevo and other towns also saw the opening of new stores and brands in 2017.

According to announcements and the projects initiates, there will be much more shopping choice for the people of Leskovac, Vrsac, Nis, Novi Sad and Pozarevac in 2018, and the people of Belgrade will certainly also be provided with even more shopping options.

But, let’s start at the beginning.

The top three spots in 2017 are identical to those from a year before. Germany’s Lidl is the absolute leader on our list. This supermarket chain was eyeing and purchasing new parcels for its retail stores in Serbia throughout 2017. There was news about its future stores in Sremska Mitrovica, Apatin, Zrenjanin, Zajecar. Novi Sad will get two stores, as will New Belgrade...

(Photo: Herrndorff/shutterstock.com)

Some of the Lidl stores have already gotten their final shape and are ready to open to consumers. However, as already announced, all the stores of this German chain in Serbia will open on the same date in 2018. The exact date is still not known, however, as the company cannot yet specify it.

The second spot belongs once again to the shopping center Ada Mall. Whether shopping in the part of Belgrade people usually visit to relax will indeed prove to be an extraordinary experience, as announced by GTC Srbija, the company which is building this shopping center, will be seen in late 2018, when it is supposed to open.

The value of the investment is EUR 100 million, and the focus will not be on outlets only, but on numerous green areas and open balconies as well. On more than 34,000 m2, consumers will also be introduced to entirely new brands in the market.

The third spot belongs to new investments by Immofinanz Group. The Austrian investor opened the fourth Stop Shop retail park in Serbia last year and began the construction of another two. The latest facility built, the one in Lazarevac, has become home to 23 local and foreign brands, filling out the capacities. The amount of EUR 10 million was invested in it, and 300 people have been employed.

The shopping center opened in September, only four months after the works started, and the foundation stone in Vrsac was laid down only a day later in Vrsac and then in Pozarevac on November 21. The construction of the Stop Shop facility in Sremska Mitrovica should begin this year, and Immofinanz, let us remind, already has facilities in Cacak, Valjevo and Nis.

Poseidon Group continued to invest in Serbia in 2017 (fourth spot). Capitol Park Sombor, the first modern retail park in this town in Vojvodina, opened in September, followed by the first bigger shopping center for the residents of the Belgrade municipality of Rakovica in October.

The facility worth EUR 30 million was built in the location of the former tire factory Rekord, and the biggest attraction for the residents of this part of Serbia’s capital is the Cine Grand movie theater. This is the third retail park of Poseidon Group in Serbia since 2013 (the first one was built in Sabac in 2014), and the company is also considering further investments. As they announced, the construction of a Capitol Park is planned in Leskovac, as well as in two other locations, which will be revealed in 2018.

(From the opening of the IKEA department store in Belgrade) The opening of the IKEA department store in Belgrade placed fifth. A higher spot may have been expected considering the hype around the opening of the first department store of the Swedish furniture manufacturer in Serbia.

People of Belgrade attended the August 10 opening of the store offering 9,500 products in droves, and newspapers reported that hot-dogs and bowls were the best sold items at the department store. A special public transport line, number 70, was implemented as well, with buses operating the route from Bezanijska Kosa to Bubanj Potok every 20 minutes. In its two months of operations, IKEA has been visited by around 600,000 people, and the company’s aim is 2.5 million visitors in one year.

Let us remind that IKEA announced 5 department stores in Serbia back in 2008. However, all things considered, it is more likely that another two facilities might be realized in the upcoming period. The company, as Vladislav Lalic, IKEA Regional Property & Expansion Manager for SEE, told eKapija recently, is “active in the acquisition of land for another department store”, and the next facility in Belgrade will be located “on the other side of the river”, on the stretch to the Dobanovci interchange. IKEA has also had a parcel in Nis for several years now and is “monitoring the situation” for the time being.

Another potential project is the construction of an IKEA retail park in Bubanj Potok, next to the department store. The feasibility study positively assesses the possibilities of the development of one such complex, and the company is supposed to make concrete announcements in a few months.

The new player on our list is RC Reinvest, which opened the first NEST shopping center in Serbia in December. LC Waikiki, Deichmann, Takko, Intersport, Top Shop, Delhaize and Nefa are only some of the brands available in the 5,000-m2 facility in Kraljevo. The citizens of Obrenovac, Ruma, Vrsac and Uzice, where the investor plans to build new NEST facilties, will be provided with a similar offer as soon as next year. These announcements helped the project place sixth.

The seventh spot belongs to the first shopping center in Karaburma, BIG Fashion, which opened on April 20. It takes up 61,000 m2, of which 32,300 m2 belongs to outlets. Once the capacity is filled out, there will be 114 outlets on two levels, whereas the third one is meant for dining relaxation and entertainment. Let us remind that the Dutch company Plaza Centers was initially supposed to open the shopping center in Palilula under the name of Belgrade Plaza. However, it was bought out by the Israeli company Big Shopping Centers Israel, which has been operating in Serbia since 2007. They opened their first shopping center in Serbia, BIG Shopping Center Novi Sad, in 2012, and more on their big plans in the Serbian market is to follow.

The eighth spot takes us to downtown Belgrade, the Kneza Mihaila Street. In September, the Rajiceva shopping center opened here as a project of the Israeli company Ashtrom Group, worth EUR 80 million. Although the investor’s idea was for the facility to “fit into the local cultural heritage by combining elements of the old and the new”, the building at the end of the street has caused much controversy among the people of Belgrade because of its architecture. Nevertheless, the Israeli investors announce the completion of another phase of the project, the opening of Hotel Mama Shelter on March 1, 2018.

Novi Sad’s Promenada, the shopping center on the corner of the Oslobodjenja Blvd and the Cara Lazara Blvd, which should open in late 2018, placed ninth on the list. NEPI, which bought the parcel near Spens for around EUR 30 million, joined forces with Rockcastle last year, and the new company will invest around EUR 100 million in the Novi Sad shopping center, whereas a total of 1,500 people will be employed at Promenada.

The earthworks began in June 2017. Promenada Novi Sad will have four levels of retail space with natural lighting, 1,500 parking spaces and 150 outlets. NEPI-Rockcastle already owns the Plaza shopping center in Kragujevac, and they’ve also bought land in Krusevac, where they plan to build a retail park.

Another project of Israel’s BIG Shopping Centers placed within the top 10, and once it’s completed, the shopping center in Vidikovac, the construction of which started in March, will be the biggest one in the country, with 70,000 m2 of retail space. The biggest shopping center in Serbia will have over 300 outlets of local and global brands, a cinema complex, restaurants, playgrounds and various sports features, and it will employ 3,000 people. The opening is planned for 2019.

(Future look of the Vidikovac shopping center, to be the biggest shopping center in Srbija) Further on our list are Shoppi Retail Park of MPC Properties in Smederevo (11th spot), the shopping mall that might be built as part of the new building of the Belgrade Philharmonic in Block 13, New Belgrade (12th spot), the announcement that Delta Planet might start building the eponymous shopping center in Nis in February (13th spot) and the beginning of the construction of the BW Gallery shopping center as part of the Belgrade Waterfront in September 2017 (14th spot).

Take a look at the complete list on investments in the TRADE CENTERS category and compare it with your own thoughts, estimates and projections.

Also, have you seen our list of the projects that have caused the greatest interest in the TRANSPORTATION, TELECOMMUNICATIONS & IT, ECOLOGY, SPORTS, TOURISM, ENTERTAINMENT & RECREATION, UTILITY INFRASTRUCTURE & ENERGY, HEALTH CARE, REAL ESTATE (residential and office space), AGRICULTURE AND FOOD INDUSTRY and INDUSTRY categories?

2017 RETROSPECTIVE – Investments in TRADE CENTERS which have caused the greatest interest among eKapija users

Most Important News