The delivery of a significant portion - or 30% - of new shopping centre space in the Russian regions will be postponed until 2017, according to a rcent report by CBRE.
According to the report, 15 shopping centres with a rentable area of 638,000 m2 were originally due to be delivered by the end of 2016. The biggest centre expected to be opened in the second haf is the 115,000 m2 Gudok centre in Samara.
International retailers have become more cautious with regard to plans for regional expansion in Russia. For the second half of the year, only one brand – Amsterdam Chips Company – has chosen a regional market as a point of entry to Russia.
In total, just four international brands opened their first Russian stores in the regions in H1 2016, and all of them were in St Petersburg. These include Estonian and German fashion retailers Veta and Jill Sander Navy and Japanese electronics giant Fujifilm.
Eight new shopping centres with a total rentable area of 266,000 m2 were delivered in regional cities across Russia in the first six months. The country's current total regional stock (excluding Moscow and St. Petersburg) is now 13 million m2.
As of H1 2016 penetration of modern shopping centres in megacities reached 366 m2 per 1,000 inhabitants. In cities with less than 1 million people penetration of shopping centres amounted to 261 m2 per 1,000 inhabitants.
Yekaterinburg, Samara and Nizhniy Novgorod have the highest penetration of retail space per 1,000 inhabitants compared to other megacities.
Among cities with populations of less than 1 mllion, Krasnodar is still the leading market. The city’s 611 m2 per 1,000 inhabitants is the highest penetration among all Russian cities, even considering the agglomeration that includes Krasnodar itself and nearby cities.
