Ingka Centres, the shopping centre division of Ingka Group, an Ikea company, announced on Friday that a further three of its Meeting Places have re-opened, with malls in Italy and Spain joining those across Europe and China which had already resumed trading.
Of Ingka Centres’ 45 Meeting Places that were open before the Covid-19 restrictions, only Russia’s 14 Mega branded malls, two malls in Portugal, one in Spain, and one in the UK remain closed, meaning well over half of the company’s shopping centre portfolio is now open again.
The latest footfall figures and conversion figures from Ingka Centres re-opened Meeting Places continue to show an encouraging and sustained return of customers worldwide.
Tiare Shopping, in the northern Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, has seen 92% of its usual number of visitors return in the first week since re-opening. Elnos Shopping in Italy’s Lombardy region and Luz Shopping in southern Spain have also reopened their doors and have seen footfall reach 50% and 82% respectively of equivalent figures from last year in the first few days of opening.
This reflects visitation figures from Ingka Centres other malls in Europe, such as in Poland where footfall has returned to 87% of 2019 figures.
Gerard Groener, global managing director of Ingka Centres commented: ‘Sales and footfall across our Meeting Places continue to exceed our expectations, and thanks to the resilience of our tenants around 90% of stores are now open.
Of course, restrictions remain, and are being rigorously adhered to, but we’re pleased at the maturity and responsibility our communities are showing in maintaining effective social distancing. Those tenant businesses still closed mainly operate in the F&B, kids and entertainment sectors, where stricter restrictions rightly remain in place, but we are looking forward to them also safely re-opening at the appropriate time.’
In China, visitors to Livat Centres in Beijing and Wuxi in April reached 67 and 81% of equivalent figures from last year. Livat Wuhan has been most affected, and after a fortnight of trading footfall stood at 45%.
Importantly, those visiting are proving more likely to spend, with turnover at the Livat Centre Wuxi reaching 104% of the equivalent period last year.
Ingka Centres operates 45 centres in 15 different markets in Europe, plus Russia and China, and would normally see 480 million people visit its malls each year.
Ingka Centres has put in place a range of temporary safety measures to encourage customers to maintain their distance from others. This includes graphics on the floor showing the right distance to stand apart, as well as extensive display advertising to encourage best practice in hand washing.