Shopping centers recorded a landslide drop in purchases during the New Year holidays

During the New Year holidays, the attendance of shopping centers in 2022 was 10-15% lower than last year and more than 30% lagged behind the figures for 2020. Kommersant writes about this with reference to Focus Technologies data.

The number of visitors to shopping centers in Moscow in the first week of 2023 fell by 15% compared to the same period a year ago, and in St. Petersburg – by 10%.

If we compare this figure with the same period in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic had not yet begun, attendance in Moscow was 36% lower, and in St. Petersburg – by 31%.

Shopping centers experienced problems with attendance throughout 2022. In the largest shopping centers with an area of ​​more than 80 thousand square meters, it fell by 25% year-on-year in 10 months. In malls with an area of ​​40,000 to 80,000 square meters, attendance decreased by 7% year-on-year.

After the start of the war in Ukraine, large Western brands of clothing, equipment and other goods sold in shopping centers left Russia. It was they who were the anchor tenants in large shopping centers, Mikhail Vasiliev, head of research and consulting at Focus Technologies, explained earlier.

As a result, the share of vacant space in Russian malls increased by 3 p.p. to 12% over the year, Magazin Magazin calculated.

In addition, Russian citizens in 2022 preferred to spend less money on non-food items. Consumer spending of citizens, taking into account inflation, fell by 7% year-on-year in the II quarter and by 6.4% in the III, experts of the FinExpertiza audit and consulting network calculated. Sales of non-food products fell by more than 10% for six consecutive months. In November, according to Rosstat, the indicator fell by 11.7% year-on-year.

As a result, by November, about 200 shopping centers throughout Russia were on the verge of bankruptcy. “In fact, today every second shopping center is under threat,” said Magic Group President Alexander Peremyatov.

Shopping malls are built on long-term loans. They are faced with a drop in income, and because of the high debt burden they are threatened with bankruptcy, explained Dmitry Tomilin, CEO of Eterna.