According to the company JLL, 123 thousand square meters of shopping centers were commissioned in the Russian capital in 2018, which is one of the historical lows. Thus, the volume of construction in 2018 is only 2.8 thousand square meters higher than the absolute anti-record of 2012.

The new offer of 2018 was formed by the shopping center "Kashirskaya Plaza" (71 thousand sq. m.), the shopping center "Mile" in Zhulebin (19 thousand sq. m.), the shopping center "Petrovsky" (8.5 thousand sq. m.) opened in the 1st half of the year, and also the shopping centers "Arena Plaza" (17 thousand sq. m.) and "Krasnoprudny" (about 7 thousand sq.m.), which have started work in the 4th quarter.

 
The low commissioning rate is a consequence of the postponement to 2019 of a number of facilities that were originally announced for the past year. Among them are the shopping center "Island of Dreams", TPU "Rasskazovka", the shopping center "Galleon", the 2nd stage of the shopping center "Smolensky Passage" and several local facilities from ADG group.

As a result, 289 thousand square meters of high-quality retail space is expected to be commissioned in 2019, which is 2.3 times higher than the new offer of 2018. This volume will be formed mainly due to the areas of the shopping centers "Salaris" and "Island of Dreams": they will account for 61% of the expected annual figure.

Comments Ekaterina Zemskaya, head of the retail real estate Department of JLL: "Against the background of a limited supply of high-quality retail space and increased competition for buyers in 2018, the trend of combining various services and goods into a single space has intensified in the market. There is an active collaboration of formats and concepts: cafes and shops, coworking and cafes, shops and children's rooms, entertainment and education, and so on. In addition, well-known brands on the market are actively testing new formats. For example, in order to be closer to customers, in 2018 IKEA opened the first compact format stores in Russia - design studios, first in the shopping center "Aviapark", and then in the residential complex "LIFE-Botanical Garden"..

As a result of the low volume of commissioning and the lack of high-quality retail space, the share of vacant space in the Moscow shopping center continued to decline. By the end of 2018, the vacancy rate fell to 5.2%, the lowest in the last five years. Compared to the same period in 2017, the indicator decreased by 1 percentage point.

Comments Oksana Kopylova, Head of Retail and Warehouse Real estate Analytics at JLL: "The reduction in the vacancy rate over the past year was primarily due to a decrease in the number of vacant spaces in shopping centers such as Mosaic, “Riga Mall”, “Butovo Mall”. In addition, new facilities built after 2016 demonstrated high occupancy dynamics in 2018. For example, in the Riviera shopping mall, the share of vacant space in 2018 decreased from 8% to 3%, and in the Vegas Kuntsevo shopping mall from 15% to 8%.

In 2019, taking into account the expected commissioning of retail space, the vacancy rate, according to the forecast of analysts of the company JLL, will grow slightly to 5.8%.

The activity of new international brands decreased in 2018: only 30 foreign retailers opened their debut outlets in Russia against 48 newcomers in 2017. The achieved indicator has become the lowest in six years. At the same time, seven retailers left the Russian market for the year, compared with nine departures in 2017.

Most of the brands that appeared on the Russian market in 2018 represent the premium segment (53%), whereas in the previous year, middle-class newcomers dominated with a 46% share in the total volume; in 2018, the middle segment accounted for 40% of debuts. Among the openings of 2018, it is worth highlighting the first mono-brand stores That's Living, COS, Karl Lagerfeld, Coach.

 
In 2019, the Russian market is waiting for a number of major foreign brands, including the American DreamPlay, which plans to open the first entertainment zone in the shopping center "Aviapark" in Moscow. Chinese retailers of Urban Revivo youth clothing and Li Ning sportswear are also expected to enter Russia. In addition, for 2019, the return of the fashion operator Mekh to Russia has been announced.

Source: JLL