The occupancy rate in Liberty Center Shopping Mall reached a level higher than 70 percent in the last six months, after attracting new tenants for 18 percent of the shopping centre’s area. By the end of the year, JLL estimates that the shopping centre will reach an occupancy rate higher than 80 percent. Since last November, Liberty Center has been managed by JLL Romania.
One of the recent openings in the shopping centre is the multi-brand store KVL by Kenvelo, Lee Cooper and Timeout, on a surface of 284 sqm, representing a strategic relocation of two shops located in the mall. The new concept of the multi-brand shop situated on the ground floor in the main atrium, is adapted to the consumers visiting the centre.
On Friday, 12th of May, the fashion retailer Colin’s opened a new store of 200 sqm area, located at the ground floor of the shopping centre.
Casa Convenienza by Casa Magica will also open a new Italian furniture and home decorations store, of 1,380 sqm area on the ground floor.
The tenant mix of the shopping centre is also completed by two new shops, each of them having an area of 200 sqm: the Romanian fashion brand Format Lady and Raimond, a multi-brand leather footwear retailer.
The first floor will be step-by-step repositioned mainly as a services area. In the nearest future, three new openings are scheduled, on a total area of 543 sqm area: a gym hall dedicated to the martial arts, an Adidas shop with boxing and martial arts equipment distributed by Masibo Sport, a showroom and a DJ school, with a musical production studio, branded as DJ High Way. Also on the first floor, by mid-June, we will open a beauty salon, additional to the mix operated by the fitness operator Happy Gym.
New to the second floor is the opening of the Happy Cinema coffee shop. Here will take place different events, such as concerts, book launchings etc. The new openings, but also the relocation and reshaping of the tenant mix, led to a traffic increase of 13 percent in Q1, in comparison to the same period of the last year.
“Strategically, we have focused both on attracting new tenants and on the relocation of some already existing brands, with the main focus in offering to the consumers a pleasant and accessible experience. We see an opening from some of the retailers regarding Liberty Center. The mall will remain a proximity shopping centre, with a focus on the leisure area and targeting new tenants which would quickly adapt to this concept. The main focus of the JLL team which is running this project – Corina Stamate, the shopping centre manager, and Doinita Ilie the leasing manager retail – is to develop a unique, strategic mix, adapted to the consumers. The leasing contracts signed until now demonstrate the success of this action,” commented Mariana Stamate, Head of Property Management Department JLL Romania.
The shopping centre, with a total area of 25,700 sqm, has more than 60 tenants from the fashion, food and entertainment areas. Some of the main anchor tenants are Carrefour Market, Altex, Adidas, Deichmann, CCC, Sephora, Steilmann, KFC, McDonalds and Spring Time.
Last year, immediately after JLL started to manage Liberty Center, a multiplex operated by Happy Cinema, a Romanian company, opened. From the opening until now, more than 70,000 tickets have been sold. A major impact has been brought by the development of alternative content dedicated to both adults and children. The events organised in the shopping centre are another way of attracting a large number of visitors. So, for the first time in Bucharest, on 18th of May, at the Happy Cinema Café Andrei Ciobanu’s second book release took place, and on 20th of May a Timpuri Noi concert was organised.