IKEA Centres Russia's MEGA shopping centres welcomed 58 new brands in 2016 and reported 265 million people visiting its shopping centres in the last financial year.
Global brands using IKEA Centres Russia’s MEGA Centres as an entry point into the country included British retail brand Superdry, Italian fashion house Armani Exchange, Austrian coffee brand Julius Meinl, Dutch lingerie boutique Hunkemoller, Korean cosmetics retailer The Nature Republic, French cosmetics retailer NYX and Swiss luxury chocolatier Lindt.
Speaking at MAPIC today, Milen Gentchev, the newly appointed general director at IKEA Centres Russia, said: 'While economic times have not been easy in Russia, we are seeing new international brands coming into our centres and think that 2017 will bring modest growth. Inflation is going down and our MEGA gallery tenants saw an average of 16% growth this year.'
IKEA Centers Russia is continuing to invest in new sites. It is rolling out a €2 bn investment programme, which will deliver innovative and experiential meeting places alongside existing retail. It is upgrading to food court areas, shopping galleries and leisure zones, aiming for its food and beverage offer to almost double.
Significant investments have been made in the MEGA centre regional portfolio including the purchase of land plots in Chelyabinsk and St Petersburg, and a land plot in the wider Moscow region, which is designated for the first standalone IKEA store in Russia.
Pictured: MEGA Belaya Dacha in Moscow
