News Room
For Immediate Release
Outlet-hungry Romanians are in for a Double Treat
By: International Outlet Journal (IOJ)
Fall 2008
The battle for Romania has come down to two outlet centres, Mega Designer Outlets and Fashion House Bucharest, that are opening withinmonths – and metres – of each other justoff the A1 highway, about 30 minuteswest of Bucharest’s city centre.
A third project, planned by American Outlets Overseas, is in a watch-and-wait mode due to the rapid lease-up of the first two schemes. Fashion House Bucharestand Mega Designer Outlets may end upwith a similar tenancy, but neither centre will be mistaken for the other.
Mega’s contemporary design of moldedmetal is currently being manufactured, ready to pop out almost completed except for finishing touches and a roof. FHB, on the other hand, takes its design theme from old town Bucharesti architecture, amix of classical and renaissance Italian, Arabic, and eastern Slav.
Without a doubt, Romanians will enjoy the two centres once they’re open. The country is outlet-hungry and its 23 million people are among the youngest, most brand conscious in Europe. The catchment for the market is 3.5 million within a 30-minute drive. An update on the two outlet centres follows.
Fashion House Bucharest opens in November
When Fashion House Outlet Centre Bucharest opens on 26 November, it will be the fourth project for Fashion House, which has developed three outlet centres in Poland. The 190,000-sf enclosed mall will have 140 stores, a food court, children’s play area and free parking for 2,700 vehicles.
Leasing, handled by Cushman & Wakefieldand Jones Lang LaSalle, is well ahead of schedule, with more than 90 percent of the retail space currently committed. In fact, the project’s second phase is already in leasing and expected to open in late 2009, according to Neil Thompson, CEO of Fashion House.
Fashion House Development is made up of GVA Grimley Outlet Services and Liebrecht & Wood. Brendon O’Reilly, director, GVA Grimley Outlet Services, says brand penetration in the region is accelerating rapidly, and retailers are turning to outlet formats to meet the demand.
O’Reilly, known in the outlet industry as a profiling wonk, says Central Europeans are reaching for more trendy brands. While they love their Nikes, they’re also attracted to Quiksilver and Timberland for fashion.
O’Reilly says that in Central Europe the seasonality of a product is less importan tthan the fact that it’s a brand. “Whereas someone in London wouldn’t be seen dead in last year’s Timberland or TommyHilfiger, in Prague it’s just important that it’s Tommy Hilfiger.”
While Fashion House in Bucharest will draw shoppers from a 90-minute radius, O’Reilly expects the majority will come from Bucharest “three to four times in the first year, then a bit more often.”
Tenanting strong for Mega’s opening early in 2009
A 10,000-sf American Emporium will anchor Mega Development’s Mega Designer Outlets. The retailer is based in Dallas, Texas and specialises in acquiring goods from manufacturers that don’t have distribution outside the U.S. For most of these manufacturers, the chance to have their goods in outlet centres in Central Europe answers a quest to test the waters without much hassle.
The 366,000-sf centre will open in March 2009, according to the developers, the husband and wife team of Sam Turkmaniand Chang Oh, whose Washington, D.C.-based Mega Company has been in the real estate and construction business in Romania since 1989.
Chang Oh has been confident of the success of the centre from the beginning. “There is a serious shortage of the type of retail that outlet centres offer,” she says. “There is this great thirst for brand names, especially American brand names. We know the Romanian people have enough buying power – they’re already traveling six hours from Romania to shop outlets in Austria – so we know the market is ripe.”
According to Chang Oh, signed tenants for Mega Designer Outlets include Cavali, Clarks, Dior, Dockers, Fornarina, Fox, Gabor, Gant, Geoxx, House of Art, Lacoste, Levis, Lotto, Mastai, Playboy and Steilmann.
Mega has appointed Interops (International Retail Operations) to manage thecentre once it’s open, as well as handle its planning, mobilisation and launch, plus all the retail operations of the scheme. Interops will also oversee the leasing and marketing teams.
Richard Broadhead, Interops managing director, says, “We’re delighted to work so closely with all the the retailers on this prestigious centre.”
One interesting aspect of the centre is that it will employ a new roofing material called FoilTec, a flexible, transparent system that is impervious to sun and other weather and aging conditions. In fact, the surface is so slick that it never needs to be cleaned.