Advertisement

shopping center

The project development of a congress hotel and residential tower

The transformation of a shopping center into a retail and service center

SES Spar European Shopping Centers is consolidating its position in the Northern Italian market. With the purchase of the IL GRIFONE shopping center in Bassano del Grappa, located in the highly affluent region of Vicenza/Veneto, the real estate developer and operator takes over a well-established location with immediate effect.

As a participant and contributor to the world of hospitality for over 30 years, Will Odwarka shares in this column insights, thoughts, and concepts that represent the contemporary challenges of our industry either as part of a retail environment or as standalone operations. He will do this without sugarcoating and superficial bumper sticker statements.

The European shopping center market overvalues design and investment but needs to pay more attention to atmosphere, interaction, and service, says Will Odwarka. This hurts the centers and especially their gastronomy section. The founder and CEO of Dubai-based Heartatwork Hospitality Consulting explains in his conversation with ACROSS editor Reinhard Winiwarter why excellent, personable service is the prerequisite for everything in the field of gastronomy.

For companies, being visible is one of the most important prerequisites for success. Making this possible was the reason for SES Spar European Shopping Center, as the operator of numerous shopping malls in Austria, to launch the advertising-free online platform “yip.at” in 2020. The aim was and is to make the retail, gastronomy, service and craft businesses from the neighborhood visible to customers throughout Austria.

Exemplifying Fiba CP’s role as both investor and manager, İnegöl Shopping Mall has once again united its patrons with a notable brand. On Thursday, August 24, MediaMarkt, one of Turkey’s leading electronics retail chains, unveiled its new 1,675 sq m store within İnegöl Shopping Mall.

While the mood in Central and Western Europe’s retail sector is dominated by “gray clouds”, center developers and operators from the SEE and CEE regions are in a completely different situation. In an interview with ACROSS Publisher Reinhard Winiwarter, Rüdiger Dany, CEO of NEPI Rockcastle, explains his 700 million development pipeline, how NEPI is profiting from ESG, and in which regard the West can learn something from the East.