Despite continued strong growth in recent weeks in the webstores of Stockmann and Lindex, the online sales growth cannot compensate for the drastic decline in customer volumes in the current exceptional situation.

In these times of crisis, we at ACROSS listen very closely to what the industry is doing, feeling, and thinking. We gathered some substantial opinions from industry experts and compiled them in the ACROSS special issue “Covid-19”. This issue is available for download here and also via our new e-paper app.

After being criticized for its decision to defer rental payments, Adidas apologized for saying it would halt rent payments for retail locations globally that had to shutter due to COVID-19 lockdowns and that it would pay for April.

Until June 1 Sponda is offering two months’ rent free to all of its restaurant and food & beverage tenants operating in its shopping centres and commercial properties.

The investor has invested half a billion, says company doctor Geiwitz. The German bankruptcy contingency fund pays 28,000 employees for three months. The corona crisis threatens the future of the department house group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, which is owned by the Austrian large-scale investor René Benko.

Representatives of the shopping and entertainment mall development industry addressed a collective open letter to the authorities to initiate an urgently needed dialogue regarding consolidation of actions.

Under the umbrella of Croatian Employers Association (CEA), the Coordination of non-food retail and shopping centers has been organized upon the initiative of the Developers Association and Retail Association both under CEA in Zagreb on March 26, 2020.

Financial expert Thomas Dries will support SIGNA in the area of banking as well as on the international capital markets.He will carry out his activities from SIGNA’s Berlin offices.

Australia’s national retail groups and shopping centre landlords have united in a set of retail leasing principles and calling for the implementation of a national Code of Conduct for retail leasing that assists both retailers and landlords during this period of unprecedented economic turmoil.

In these difficult days for Albania where the spread of COVID-19 has challenged the healthcare institutions and the economy, the life of many families in Bulqiza and other cities has become even harder.

The company is availing of the measure offered by the Spanish government to companies that, due to force majeure, have had to stop doing business since the state of alarm was declared.

Considering the economic impact the Coronavirus has brought along in its midst, Geoblink, the Location Management platform powering the new retail, has decided to help the sector by launching an open portal today for professionals of the retail ecosystem to consult and monitor the impact COVID-19 is having on different territories and industries through the use of population movement and consumption data across the United Kingdom.

Northern Horizon Capital AS, the management company of Baltic Horizon Fund, will be implementing a number of relief initiatives focused on alleviating the financial hardship of the most vulnerable group of SME tenants, primarily in the retail sector, whose operations were most severely affected by the outbreak and the restrictive measures implemented by the Baltic governments to limit the spread of contagion.

Events like COVID-19 cause disruption on multiple fronts. However, spotting the early indications within the noise can turn chaos into success.

The department store group Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt is in trouble.

Requests for funding are being submitted to the German Reconstruction Loan Corporation. Allegedly in the amount of 2 billion euros.

“Let’s create and open a virtual Madrid, Paris, Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Milan or Venice for our avatars, virus-free, with the recovered turquoise lagoon, a crowded Piazza San Marco, hundreds of flying doves, etc.”

Standort + Markt published a second estimate, which focuses on stationary retail‘s anticipated, daily, average loss of revenue at all Austrian shopping places. The results provide solid guidelines for the European retail real estate market in general.

Many fashion retailers suspend their lease payments because their stores are shut down due to the corona crisis. Even H&M Germany is not paying rent for its 460 stores anymore.

What we are experiencing these days is unprecedented. Unprecedented in terms of the changes that will come. Unprecedented in regard to the question “how do we go on from here”, and also unprecedented when it comes to the constant as well as instant switches between optimism and sheer pessimism.

Intu’s three priorities are to look after its employees, to protect its business and to play its role in society.

Josip Kardun has 20 years of pan-European real estate investment and management experience. He previously served as CEO of Blackstone’s largest European operating platform where he managed over €10 billion of assets across 14 countries.

MIPIM 2020, scheduled to take place June 2-5 in Cannes, is transforming into a two-day, Paris-based gathering of real estate and technology leaders in September and a new online experience, MIPIM Connect, available year-round.