Shopping centers and consumers have adapted to the challenges of wartime, with increased foot traffic and turnover reported by representatives of shopping malls during the RAU Summit-2024 on Wednesday.
According to Maxim Gavryushin, the operational director of Budhouse Group, out of the company's four shopping malls, three are currently operational: Lubava Mall (Cherkasy), Forum Mall (Lviv), and Nikolsky Mall (Kharkiv). The Kherson Fabrika Mall is not being restored at this stage.
“There is a significant difference between the west, center, and east of Ukraine. The situation is worst in Kharkiv, where the shopping center has not yet returned to pre-war performance levels. We resumed operations at Nikolsky Mall at the end of 2022. The beginning of 2024 was very challenging, with mass shelling in Kharkiv, and up to 70% of working hours were spent in alerts, but the situation improved in the fall. Now, Nikolsky Mall is performing better than in 2023, with higher turnover. However, compared to 2021, the food hall, for instance, is down by 40-50%,” said Gavryushin.
He also mentioned that Lubava Mall in Cherkasy has already exceeded pre-war performance metrics. “Turnover is up by 50%, and the food hall is plus 20% compared to 2021, although we have not yet surpassed the pre-COVID figures,” Gavryushin added.
The highest results are seen at Forum Mall (Lviv), where turnover figures are 80% higher than in the pre-war year of 2021.
Commercial director of Dragon Capital PM, Natalia Kravets (which includes the Kyiv Smart Plaza Obolon, Piramida, Aladdin, “Karavan”, Lviv Victoria Gardens, and Vinnytsia Sky Park), noted an increase in foot traffic, which is currently even higher than before the pandemic.
All company shopping complexes have zero vacancy rates, except for the recently acquired “Karavan”.
“In the last 12 months, we have made many quality rotations… And we recently calculated that turnover in the spaces where we changed tenants has increased twofold or more. We also experience positive turnover dynamics across the entire mall every month,” Kravets stated, emphasizing that half of the new tenants represent Ukrainian brands.
In the capital's Gulliver BFC, turnover has increased by 16% over the past 12 months, while the number of receipts during the same period rose by 5%, according to CEO Irina Krupа.
In Dnipro, foot traffic in Alef Estate shopping centers has returned to pre-war levels.
“As of the results for the first 10 months of 2024, we have reached 2021 levels,” reported Angela Borisova, the general manager of the Alef Estate commercial center. Adapting to the curfew, the company changed its working hours, now operating from 9 AM to 9 PM. Additionally, peak days have shifted; before the war, considering the malls' location in the business center of Dnipro, the main flow occurred on weekdays, but now it is on Saturdays and Sundays.
In PortCity Mall (Lutsk), turnover has increased by 40% compared to the previous year. “Our foot traffic is higher than the average in Western Ukraine - 540 people per 1,000 sq. m compared to 390 per 1,000 sq. m," reported CEO of “Port City Group” Natalia Antonenko.