REBEC 2024: Without new brands arriving to Serbia, there is no future for shopping centers – Who is the king of retail?

The only way for the retail sector to continue developing is for new brands to arrive to Serbia. Many new projects are ongoing, there are investments in retail parks, but they all look like each other, so the future lies in multifunctional projects, is the conclusion of the panel “Retail Revolution in the Western Balkans: Unveiling the Future”, which was held within the REBEC 2024 conference.

In the next 10 years, I don’t expect investments in new shopping centers, but in retail parks exclusively, emphasized Milos Grdinic, MRICS, the development and asset management director in Delta Real Estate.

– The only way to develop and improve our shopping centers is to bring new brands. We currently have a limited number of potential tenants in Serbia, at our company we call them “the usual suspects”, because in each shopping center, you will find the same brands. So, we definitely need new brands and quality brands at that. And if we bring a new brand to our shopping centers, they will not only operate there, but also spread in the market, so when we negotiate with them, we are not representing just our company, but also other shopping centers – said Grdinic.

He adds that new brands are primarily interested in entering our market as franchises.

– New brands are most often interested in coming here, but through franchises, but we are trying to convince them to come directly. Because, considering the history, there are plenty of examples where nearly 95% of the brands that come through franchises fail – he explains and adds that the most frequent reason is that there have picked a wrong company to be their partner, and each new attempt to enter the market will be much more difficult.

“Mixed-use” projects as the future

He points out that Delta’s plan is to invest in mixed-use projects in the future, in which there will be retail space, but organized differently compared to shopping centers and retail parks.

– Retail space in such projects will be there to “support” the other segments – office, residential and hotel. The development of such projects also requires new, known brands from the European Union. One such project that is in focus at the moment is the one we are developing in New Belgrade – Delta District, whose construction started recently. It’s a project which will have four buildings – two residential ones, one office building and a hotel. This will be something entirely new in the market – says Grdinic.

Until new brands come to the market, according to Grdinic, there’s nothing much to talk about with the tenants.

– At the moment, they set the rules, they are the “kings”. And I believe that this will continue for over three years more. Because, at the moment, the development of a larger number of projects is in progress and they have a wide possibility of choice – he points out.

Nino Stepinac, the development manager at JYSK Croatia, believes that the purchaser is the “king”. He adds that, at the moment, there is a big expansion of the construction of retail parks in the entire region.

– Several years ago, we couldn’t find spaces in Ruma, Velika Plana and Arandjelovac, and now we have two or three offers in each one. These are mostly smaller, local investors which build retail parks and which have the top five brands they want to bring over and that’s it. The mix of tenants is not an issue, they’re not even thinking about it. Their aim is to build the project and maybe sell it – he says and points out that it’s a similar situation in some other countries of the region.

Therefore, according to him, new concepts and new players in the market are needed.

– I believe that retail parks will have to evolve in “mixed-use” projects. Now retail parks, for example, have a supermarket, maybe a furniture store, a restaurant, or a café, and the rest is fashion brands. If a retail park has eight fashion brands, in the next five years, four of them will leave, and that’s not good. In the future, they will have to think much more about the mix of tenants. At the moment, all the retail parks are like copies of each other. From my perspective, retail parks have to have a very good mix, where people can come and spend time, where they can eat, buy furniture, clothes, where there will be a space for children. And that has to be done with quality – says Stepinac.

Central streets could become new shopping centers

“I like to say about myself that I am here to create a balance,” said Avi Alkas, the chairman of the Turkish company Alkas Consulting, which, as he explains, is here to connect the owners and the tenants.

– The “king” in retail is the customer – points out Alkas.

He also highlights the new trend – shopping on the move, that is, shopping in transit.

– These are rail stations, airports, all the places through which a large number of people passes, including the streets. As much as we are developing shopping centers – central streets as shopping destinations will not die off. In Turkey, we have gone through several phases in the development of shopping centers. Initially, those were “introverted” shopping centers, everything was indoors, and then they started opening, whereas now, after the pandemic, they are resembling streets more and more. I therefore believe that central city streets could be turned into shopping centers – he says.

He adds that, despite the difficult periods – the pandemic, the inflation and the wars – he sees a bright future of the industry.

I. Zikic

Delta Real Estate d.o.o. Beograd

JYSK d.o.o. Beograd

REBEC 2024

Alkas Consulting

Miloš Grdinić

Nino Stepinac

Avi Alkas

Retail Revolution in the Western Balkans Unveiling the Future

retail parks

shopping centers

Delta District