River Island chooses Gallerian for first Swedish store

UK clothing retailer River Island is to open its first Swedish store at Stockholm's Gallerian shopping centre.

The international high-street chain has leased a 1,170 m2 flagship unit at Gallerian, which is located only 600 metres from the central Stockholm train station.

River Island will trade alongside Hollister in the new extension to the south of the centre that opened in 2011. Other major tenants in Gallerian include Vera Moda, Jack & Jones, H&M and Clas Ohlson.

Founded in 1948, River Island operates across 320 stores in 14 countries. A spokesperson from River Island said: 'We believe that Gallerian will offer us the best stage to launch to the fast growing Swedish market, with its impressive footfall and central location. A key focus for us at River Island is for fashion to be fun. Design is at the heart of our business and our entire product range is designed by our 100-strong in-house design team. We also work with up-and-coming designers delivering unique capsule collections to our customers each season, all of which will appeal to Gallerian's trend-conscious catchment.'

Gallerian comprises 85 retail units over 31,500 m2 and has a daily footfall of 50,000 customers, or 18.2 million annually.

The shopping centre is owned by the property arm of Swedish pension fund AMF. Karolin Forsling, head of retail and development at AMF Fastigheter (AMF Real Estate), commented: 'Across the five centres in our retail portfolio, we have tailored the tenant mix to meet the demands of the distinct individual catchments. We see River Island’s iconic offer as a perfect match for Gallerian’s "fast fashion" concept.'

'There is currently unprecedented demand for prime space in central Stockholm, as both national and international brands look to tap into high consumer numbers and increased retail spend. Across our portfolio of central Stockholm shopping centres, we are continuing to review opportunities to meet this demand to the benefit of the 45 million customers who visit our centres on an annual basis,' Forsling added.

How to protect and enhance asset performance and value for consumer-led shopping centres is one of the key themes at the International Council of Shopping Centre's European annual conference in Istanbul from 2-3 April 2014. Click here for the full conference programme.