Estonia, Markets and Companies, Retail

Vasar writes that Ülemiste shopping centre has already announced expansion plans while in a few years’ time there will be doors opening in Europa (Moekombinaat) and Panorama City shopping centers, both located in Lasnamäe.

In addition, the old Postimaja building in central Tallinn is being renovated into a mall.

Those who think that the Tallinn retail market is getting saturated and there is no room for newcomers are obviously wrong. On the other hand, the proliferation of retail developments in a short period of time and in limited areas such as Lasnamäe could trigger a war between competitors who fight for customers for any means, but also without much profit.

If this happens, there will be no winners because the race will affect customers, retailers, the city and the economic sector as a whole.

As reported, the turnover generated by the Viru Keskus shopping center grew by ten% in 2011 in the year-on-year comparison, amounting to 117.4 million euros.

The shopping centre expects its turnover to grow by five% this year.

Last year, the centre was visited by nearly 11 million persons and a total of 9.3 million purchases were carried out. The visitation rate of the centre grew by 3.4% and the number of purchases carried out grew by 4.4% in a year.