Mountfield, Europe’s largest specialised retailer of garden machinery, swimming pools and home and garden equipment, has chosen the Shopping Palace centre as the site of its new store in Slovakia. Managing the shopping centre since 2013, the MVGM team has created a compact retail space for Mountfield, which covers 1,500 sqm and also includes a warehouse and suitable office space.
“In 2016, we started modernising our entire retail network both in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. As part of the modernisation, we have been scouting for prime retail locations for our new stores. The Shopping Palace centre perfectly meets our requirements and we believe that the new store, which features all the modern facilities for a comfortable shopping experience, will satisfy the needs of all customers,” says Kateřina Böhmová, Mountfield Head of Communication.
In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Mountfield operates a network of 77 stores and a similar number of service and swimming pool centres. The Slovak part of the portfolio includes 19 stores across the country. Each Mountfield store houses a professional service centre. The company started 30 years ago by opening a small store in Mnichovice in Central Bohemia.
Shopping Palace offers 18,500 sqm of leasable retail area plus 5,000 sqm of office space. Shopping Palace was the first modern shopping centre in Slovakia and underwent a series of modernisations and a redesign of its food courts, sanitary facilities and entrance portal in 2013. Shopping Palace retains its position as a family-friendly shopping centre and a shopping place for mobile customers and visitors from the suburbs of Bratislava and surrounding areas. Its key tenants include DM, Dráčik, Deichmann, Fann Parfumerie, New Yorker, Panta Rhei, Kik, Pepco, Tedi, Banquet, Sportisimo, Slovak Post and Buppi Children’s World.
“Mountfield is a strong partner with an extensive retail network and a high-quality range of products and services for gardens and beyond. The acquisition of a retail brand as strong as Mountfield proves to MVGM and Shopping Palace that the ongoing change in our strategy is yielding results. We can already confirm on behalf of MVGM that we will soon announce another major success our company has achieved for Shopping Palace as part of its new strategy,” says Erik Molčan, Shopping Palace Center Manager, MVGM.
2 million sqm of retail in Slovakia
Prime retail supply reached almost 2.05 million sqm by the end of the fourth quarter of 2020. The Bratislava region accounts for the majority, representing around 32 percent, followed by Košice, Žilina and Nitra region. There is currently ca 158,000 sqm of new retail area under construction. The largest projects are situated in Bratislava and Košice. The majority of the modern retail stock is represented by shopping centres with 64 percent followed by retail parks with 27 percent. The rest of the stock with a share of 9 percent consists of retail galleries, department stores and concept stores.
In the last quarter of 2020, 40,000 sqm of new stock was added to the market: Novum Prešov (Shopping Centre in Prešov), OC Piritov (Retail Park in Nové Zámky) and RS Park (Retail Gallery in Rimavská Sobota). There are two gigantic projects under construction in Bratislava: Nivy Mall with about 70,000 sqm and Eurovea extension with around 25,000 sqm.
The Covid-19 outbreak has provided the retail industry with challenges of an unprecedented scale. The online sales channel has been the main beneficiary of consumers’ inability or unwillingness to visit physical stores during the COVID-19 outbreak. The promise of a vaccine and life returning to normal in H2 2021 will allow investors to stabilize cash-flows and establish asset valuations.
