The positive trend in the performance of the ECE center portfolio will continue in 2024, following a successful financial year in 2023: ECE Marketplaces signed more than 1,300 leases covering a total rental area of around 400,000 sq m in the first half of the year – a six percent increase in leases compared to the highly successful prioryear period. Compared to the first half of 2023, sales and footfall also saw a slight increase on average during the first half of this year, once again demonstrating the resilience of shopping centers.
SHAPING CHANGE
Retail is changing more quickly than ever before. For ECE, this means actively shaping this ongoing process of transformation and adapting it to the needs of specific locations. In addition to ESG measures and the digitalization of the customer journey, the provision of space for short-lived trends and the further development of the sector and tenant mix, based on the needs and desires of customers, play important roles when it comes to making shopping centers as attractive as possible, thereby maintaining or increasing the value of the properties for center owners.
“The role of gastronomy, for example, is becoming more important for the quality of stay and experience in shopping centers – as is the entire non-retail area and Leisure & Entertainment concepts,” says Joanna Fisher, CEO of ECE Marketplaces. “That’s why we are intensifying our search for suitable locations at which we can supplement the retail offer, which remains at the core of our centers, with appropriate concepts.”
TREND: LEISURE & ENTERTAINMENT
Whether movie theaters, bowling, indoor skydiving, or trampolining – according to a representative, Germany-wide online survey of around 600 shopping center visitors conducted by ECE in March 2024, one in two people think entertainment facilities make a good addition to shopping centers. Leisure and entertainment facilities, depending on the location and positioning of a center, are, therefore, excellent additions to the existing sector mix and can increase a center’s appeal. The recent development of facilities at ECE centers reflects this trend: The space used for leisure and entertainment concepts at ECE centers in Germany has increased over the last five years. Leisure facilities, which are usually frequented by several people, such as whole families, friends, or other groups, can attract visitors from larger catchment areas, thereby significantly increasing footfall, which benefits the center as a whole. In the visitors’ perception, leisure and entertainment can be perfectly combined with shopping trips and/or restaurant outings.
EXAMPLES OF NEW AND EXPANDED ENTERTAINMENT FACILITIES AT ECE CENTERS
Rhein-Neckar-Zentrum featuring new food and entertainment options
The Rhein-Neckar-Zentrum in Viernheim is currently expanding its entertainment, sports, and gastronomy offer with new tenants and concepts, thereby increasing its catchment area as well. In addition to L’Osteria, which opened a freestanding restaurant on the former parking lot of a DIY store in early 2024, ECE has successfully secured the bicycle retailer B.O.C, which opened a branch at the center in April, as well as the indoor entertainment provider JUMP House, which is expected to open its doors in fall 2024 on an area of more than 4,000 sq m. Special feature: Thanks to its 16 different action areas, it will be the most modern and varied JUMP House in Germany. In addition to trampolining, visitors can look forward to a Ninja & Bounce course, a Ninja Race Arena, sports challenges featuring the latest technology, a soccer arena, and enormous slides that are second to none in Germany.
This concept, along with another indoor entertainment provider, which is expected to open its doors at the end of the year, perfectly complements the existing leisure facilities at the destination. Such offers include the Kinopolis multiplex cinema and an indoor skydiving wind tunnel, which has attracted numerous visitors from the region and beyond since its opening in fall 2021, significantly exceeding the operator’s expectations.
The Upside Down and Lane 7 enhance The Playce
Two additional attractions have been added to The Playce, Berlin’s shopping and entertainment hotspot at Potsdamer Platz, since summer 2024: “The Upside Down” interactive exhibition has been on display in Berlin since the end of July following its huge success in Amsterdam. Visitors can enjoy the interactive, Instagrammable exhibition spaces, complete with upside-down installations and optical illusions that create unique experiences, as well as four karaoke rooms, a store, and a colorful range of snacks and drinks. Alternating events perfectly round out this edutainment concept.
Lane 7, which combines a boutique bowling venue, an entertainment destination, and a bar, is due to open its very first location outside the UK in the near future. Bowling, shuffleboard, mini golf, darts, karaoke, pool, and much more await visitors on a two-floor area covering roughly 1,600 sq m.
The openings of The Upside Down and Lane7 underscore the repositioning of The Playce as a retail entertainment location that features a new mix of innovative stores, gastronomic highlights, and international entertainment concepts. At Gamestate, for example, visitors are already able to enjoy arcade game classics and novelties.
Let’s Flip Out at Rosengårdcentret
Flip Out opened its first European location outside the UK at Rosengårdcentret in Odense, Denmark, in October 2023. The British company’s special indoor adventure park offers an action-packed experience with lots of different attractions – including laser tag, go-karting, and an obstacle course – across an area of 2,300 sq m. It’s a perfect addition to the existing mix of sectors and tenants. Flip Out is in talks with ECE about further expansion in Europe, particularly in the German market.
Soccerbeat: Fun, Sports, and Entertainment at MyZeil
Fun, Sports, and Entertainment: Soccerbeat, the first soccer adventure world at a German center, opened its doors at the MyZeil shopping center in the heart of Frankfurt just in time for the start of the 2024 European Football Championship. From Monday to Sunday, visitors can make use of the 13 activity zones spanning a 1,000 sq m area on the second floor, where soccer fans can take on challenges in the areas of speed, precision, and skill – for example in a face-off with the world’s fastest goalkeeper, eSports, or foosball. Whether for individual visitors, groups, or company events – the focus is always on entertainment. Visitors can follow the most important soccer and sports highlights live on a total of four giant screens in the sports bar while enjoying sausages and beer. Soccerbeat has proved a successful move to expand the ECE center’s food and entertainment offering.
Kiddieland: A successful concept on course for expansion
Kiddieland, a Dutch family business that was founded more than 30 years ago, provides family-friendly shopping at shopping centers. Renowned for its mall concept, a children’s zone with modern kiddie rides and educational games, the company expanded its range 10 years ago with the Coool! store concept: Coool! stores feature virtual bowling alleys, interactive children’s rides, air hockey, and much more. The success of the concepts can be seen in their development at ECE centers: Kiddieland is located at 47 ECE centers – 35 mall concepts, 9 store areas, and 10 Coool! stores.
Following the most recent store opening in December 2023 at Olympia-Einkaufszentrum in Munich, five more openings at German ECE centers are planned for this year. Needless to say, Kiddieland is continuously working on further developing its concepts and sees the potential offered by larger spaces at ECE centers.
