Shopping centres, high streets and office projects are places where demand for services keeps on growing. The same goes for barber shops. While there was just one barber shop in shopping centres in the Czech Republic in 2016, according to CBRE’s statistics, there were as many as seven in 2018. Integrating such services in shopping centres reflects both changes of customers’ shopping habits and a growing demand for the range of services. Barber shops are, however, very popular in and around high streets and office projects, too.
“The first significant surge of barber shops in shopping centres came about two years ago. Back then, they appeared mainly in premium shopping centres such as Centrum Chodov, OC Nový Smíchov, Centrum Černý Most or Metropole Zličín. Besides standard units, this service can be found in individual stands on galleries, too,” says Jan Janáček, Associate Director, Advisory & Transaction Services – Retail at CBRE.
The most renowned barber shop brands in the Czech Republic are Barber Shop, Barber’s Wife, Original Barber or Thomas’s Barber Shop.
“We’ve been seeing this kind of service expand into other shopping centres and smaller projects during the past months. CBRE has captured this trend early on and provided assistance to new barber shops in Letňany shopping centre, Vivo Hostivař or Futurum in Hradec Králové,” adds Janáček.
“Placing barber shops close to high streets and office buildings suggest itself, as those are places as close to the customer as possible: on the way from work or near throbbing city areas. That’s why barber shops are found close to main streets or shopping arcades, with acceptable rents and an abundance of customers nearby,” says Tomáš Beránek, Head of High Street Retail and Tenant Representation at CBRE.
Dynamic changes in the society are also reflected in changes of people’s shopping habits — they expect wider offer from traditional shopping centres. Besides standard shops, modern customers need a wide range of services, gastronomical concepts and leisure activities. With the life pace getting faster, one of the key factors is saving time, and modern shopping centres are ready to oblige.
“Various leisure activities integrated within shopping centres tend to be an important trend these days. Traditional concepts such as cinemas, 5D cinemas or fitness centres are complemented by sauna concepts or large children’s and entertainment parks. In the close future we expect also a number of so-called Jump Parks to be opened. These trampoline centres are expanding heavily in the Czech Republic. They have been located in separate projects outside shopping centres so far due to their high technical demands. Projects that are able to offer a minimum ceiling height of 5 metres, are likely to have a very attractive tenant mix. As long-time experience from abroad shows, a good leisure concept brings very positive synergies in a shopping centre, mainly towards gastronomical tenants,” says Jan Janáček, Associate Director, Advisory & Transaction Services – Retail at CBRE.