Jones Lang LaSalle has unmasked the changing face of European retail in its new retail report European Shopping Centers: One Size Fits All? The report examines the shopping center development boom in Europe and asks if we are moving towards a generation of cloned European shopping centers.
Other key findings from Jones Lang LaSalle are as follows:
- Hypermarkets anchored 75% of all major new schemes in 2007-2008.
- Fashion anchors becoming more popular as shopping center owners look to maximize their rental income and footfall. These same fashion anchors are increasingly found across Europe, with H&M for example, taking major units in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the UK last year.
- Retail provision is also becoming formulaic, reflecting the growing internationalization of the retail sector and a desire to replicate a 'winning' formula. Fashion retailers took about half of the units in each of the shopping centers opened last year with cross border retailers dominating.
- Leisure mix across Europe is also looking increasingly familiar in spite of a small number of new attractions
