Street rules
According to Elena Tishchenko, Deputy Head of the Market Research Department of Maris in association with CBRE, in 2016 there was an increase in the requested rate for some lots in areas of high pedestrian traffic within 10%, at the same time rates for low-liquid premises remained at the level of previous periods. "We started thinking about entering the St. Petersburg market a year ago, and the multi-level space on Liteyny Prospekt allowed us to implement a non-standard format of the concept store, which will be radically different from ordinary shoe stores," shares Aleko Iliopulo, founder of the brands Porta 9 and Portal. In addition to the shoe space, there will be a corner with clothes and jewelry, a coffee shop and a flower salon. We are sure that the creative St. Petersburg audience will appreciate our extraordinary approach. By the way, it is symbolic that the new store is located near the Mayakovskaya metro station, as well as the flagship store in Moscow.
According to the estimates of Knight Frank St Petersburg, now the smallest vacancy is observed on pedestrian streets - 4.7%. In second place are the significant shopping highways of the central districts - 5.4%. On the main shopping thoroughfares of the city, the vacancy rate is significantly higher - 8.8%. The leading tenant profile in all three locations is catering. In addition, there is a noticeable increase in demand for premises as part of newly formed large residential areas. The vacancy rate of built-in premises in residential complexes at the stage when a significant part of the apartments are occupied in urban projects now does not exceed 4–5%.
In turn, the company Rusland SP is talking about several clusters that will be actively developing in the next two years: Nevsky Prospekt and the surrounding area, the Petrogradskaya – Gorkovskaya – Sportivnaya triangle. "Small business in St. Petersburg is experiencing a real boom: the opening of a small fast food can be fully budgeted up to 1 million rubles, and so far restaurants from being next to each other only benefit by forming clusters for citizens and tourists. " Look how well the whole catering on Rubinstein Street feels, &believes Elena Vishnyakova, Head of Retail real estate department Rusland SP. – As for the shops, they actively lure tourists – individual shops pay guides up to 30% of sales from Chinese groups ».
Legislative initiatives may also be the reason for further changes in St. Petersburg's street retail, believes Mikhail Rozhko, director of the retail real estate department of IPG.Estate. For example, the ban on the opening of hostels in residential buildings, the strengthening of the influence of the HOA on the activities of commercial facilities in the house. "An interesting metamorphosis for the market was the entrance of the store "Crossroads" to the shopping center "Feather Rows" on Nevsky Prospekt, which was previously occupied by small shops of paintings, souvenirs, clothing stores. It is obsolete, – reports Mr. Rozhko. Another feature for St. Petersburg was the opening of several premium souvenir shops with large storefronts and quite spacious in area, from 150 sq. m., which occupied former restaurant locations on Petrovskaya Embankment, Konyushennaya Square, Moika Embankment.
In 2017, the interlocutors of "MM" expect an adjustment of rental rates depending on the location of the premises and an increase in the gap in rental costs between well-located premises and low-traffic facilities. Operators will continue to optimize their business and will be even more careful in choosing new points. "In my opinion, in general, we can expect a reduction in the presence of fashion trends in street retail," Lilit Adibekyan from Avica believes. Retailers need a high flow of visitors and a good conversion rate, which means that fashion retailers will prefer shopping malls. At the same time, the number of restaurants, bars, food markets, service centers, as well as hotel segment facilities will increase in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Author:Ekaterina Reutskaya
Photo: Shutterstock.com
