VIA Outlets, a European owner-operator of premium fashion outlet destinations – said on Friday that it has moved to reopen all centres in its 11-strong portfolio, with Zweibrücken Fashion Outlet in Germany the final centre reopening its doors today.
With the exception of Hede Fashion Outlet in Gothenburg, all of VIA Outlets’ centres have been partially or completely closed for the majority of the period December to May due to in-country government-imposed Covid-19 restrictions.
‘The business has worked tirelessly to ensure an efficient return to normal trading right across our European portfolio – and we’re delighted we have all our eleven centres open again after months of closure,’ commented Otto Ambagtsheer, Chief Executive Officer. ‘We are already seeing spend per visitor outperform 2019 numbers in all centres, all double digit growth, some by as much as 40% – a true testament of so-called ‘revenge shopping’. With vaccine programmes now picking up speed across Europe, we are hopefully near the end of this crisis and are feeling highly confident about the future – and we are even seeing positive signs of tourism rebounding in locations such as Mallorca Fashion Outlet.’
VIA Outlets was founded in 2014 and is currently owned by Dutch pension fund asset manager APG. It owns a portfolio of 11 premium fashion outlets across Europe, offering over 1,100 stores across 267,000 m2 GLA across nine European countries.
