According to JLL Slovakia, the Slovak retail market gained positive momentum in 2015 thanks to improving consumer confidence and overall positive macroeconomic figures. This trend continues in 2016 with slightly improved retailer demand for further expansion.
After the opening of City Arena in Trnava (24,000m2 of leasable area), Forum in Poprad (23,000m2) and Galéria in Lučenec (11,000m2), the prime retail stock in Slovakia reached 1.584 million m2 in Q1 2016. The Bratislava region accounts for the majority of the Slovak retail stock with approximately 38%, followed by the Košice, Nitra and Žilina regions.
Daniel Kúth, senior consultant retail agency JLL Slovakia, says: “Developers are now particularly interested in regional cities with lower saturation of prime retail areas, where projects with an exceptional tenant mix, good location and well planned strategy are able to outperform existing schemes.”
Prešov is one of the above mentioned cities where two planned schemes with the same time of delivery (2017) are fighting for retailers – Eperia by J&T with 22,000m² GLA, and Forum by Multi with 27,000m² GLA.
Even though the density of modern retail stock in the Slovak capital reached the highest level in the CEE region (736m2 per 1,000 inhabitants in BA region), two gigantic projects have been announced, with the delivery expected during upcoming years: Stanica Nivy with approximately 70,000m2 of leasable area and Eurovea extension with approximately 25,000m2.
This year we see a continued trend of new schemes located on visible frequent transport hubs in the regions with lower saturation as well as extensions of existing established projects. Major schemes under construction in Slovakia include Eperia Prešov (22,000m2) in Prešov, Stanica Nivy (70,000m2) in Bratislava, the Eurovea extension (25,000m2) in Bratislava, and the Laugaricio extension (20,000m2) in Trenčín.
The vast majority of retail stock is represented by shopping centres that dominate over traditional high street and department store schemes in Slovakia.
The re-opening of Aupark shopping centre connected to the major refurbishment of some units and first time openings of certain brands in Slovakia was the main event on the Bratislava market in Q4 2015. Based on that, Aupark is now enjoying the top fashion destination among the competition in Bratislava. Central, one of the last major shopping schemes opened in 2012, is intensively improving its position on the market which resulted in the recent acquisition by Allianz Real Estate Germany from the local developer Immocap Group.
Reflecting their dominant position, shopping malls in Slovakia still represent the natural first choice for expanding retailers. Mainly Bratislava prime malls such as Aupark, Eurovea, Avion, Central and Bory play the major role in introducing new brands to the market. Latest additions in Q1 2016 were Clinique (Aupark), Le Temps des Cerises (Aupark), and Michal Negrin (Eurovea).
High Street retail in Slovakia can only be found in Bratislava, represented by Obchodná street, focused mostly on mass market brands and Laurinská street, focused on the luxury segments of the market. Due to the close proximity of existing retail schemes (shopping malls) and more in pipeline to come, the further improvement of high street retail in Bratislava is questionable. Nevertheless, Q4 saw the opening of the flagship store of Teta Drogérie and Ugova Salaterie on Obchodná street. The latest addition, local bijoux chain Pinky Club, opened its store on Obchodná during Q1 2016.
“We register improved demand from an international retailers for high street mainly from mass market, specialty retail and food & beverage. We also expect further stabilization of high street retail in Slovakia in 2016,“ added Kúth.
