We have new tenants, but we are also conducting further negotiations and if everything goes according to our plan, we will have a shopping mall not 100% filled before Christmas. and I would say 110 percent. - in an interview with SCF News / Retailnet.pl, says Artur Straszyński, Director of Galeria Sieradzka. The owner and manager of the project is Newgate Investment, an exhibitor at SCF 2022 Fall.
If we look at Galeria Sieradzka in such a slightly wider time horizon, it is clear that the investor is still trying to maintain the level of this project at a sufficiently high level. Already in 2018, the gallery underwent a major facelift and now it is entering the next stage of modernization.
That's true. Since we became the owner, and it was in the first half of 2017, we knew that we had to work on making our gallery continue to be the one that customers think about in the first place when they need to buy. We wanted to be the first choice, but it meant that we had to think about refreshing it, not only visually, but above all in terms of the offer more tailored to the client and his spectrum of vision at that time.
2018 was the beginning of changes, when a few tenants enlarged their premises to be able to fully present their range. This was the case with, for example, CCC, Coccodrillo or Medicine, but then new brands appeared, such as: Stokrotka, Smyk, Kawiarnia Lodówka and KIK. As a curiosity, I would like to say that in order to meet the requirements as to the size of KIK's sales area, we had to add all non-working, i.e. empty spaces, in part A of the gallery to the rental area. All our actions were a shot at 10.
Then came the pandemic and the freezing of investment processes.
Covid caused a few weaker tenants to abandon further activities in the mall. Others, who had their premises on the first floor, to take advantage of the vacant space and to strengthen their sales by expanding the premises, asked for the possibility of relocation to the ground floor. So, in order to meet the expectations of our tenants, we started to re-locate them into new attractive places in the mall.
Who were affected by these changes?
A good example here are: Diverse and Volcano, who "going down" from the top to the bottom at the same time enlarged their surfaces. The next tenants downstairs are Esotiq and Lee Wrangler. It is true that these stores have not changed their size, but now they are located directly at the entrance to the gallery, which is very much appreciated by both stores.
As I said, these changes were a response to the tenants' expectations, but at the same time we wanted to prepare a large space for a new sign, which will appear in our gallery, which is the Sinsey store.
It is supposed to pull the whole project….
So far, Galeria Sieradzka is defending itself very well with its ideal location in the city, a great tenant mix and probably the best footfall in the city, but we are convinced that a tenant like Sinsey will have a very positive impact on the additional footfall in our gallery, and thus will be an added value. By the way, I will also say that a new tenant has recently opened in our company, which is the Bee Life store, which took the place of Martes Sport, but that's not all because Kodano Optyk has also joined our group, which is currently carrying out adaptation works on the premises, but that is also not all. Despite so many positive changes, we are still thinking about what is missing from us and in this area we are conducting further negotiations. We hope that our plans will be formalized soon and that if it is successful, we will have a gallery that is not 100 percent full, and I would say that 110 percent.
That is?
In the case of Sinsay, similarly to the area of KIK, the tenants will also "enter" previously non-working space. This will give us an additional% of the lease and a certain convenience for our clients
That is 100 percent. lease and the lease area greater than it was before re-modeling?
This is what it looks like.
Do you think that the changes that will be completed by the end of this year, i.e. the completion of the modernization process and the completion of the tenant mix, will mean a longer status quo, or are you planning further actions?
I believe that in trading, you can never say that something is complete. Trade is unpredictable and that's what's beautiful about it. In fact, each change requires some other action. We are just trying to observe the market and react accordingly. So we are not saying that this is the end of the changes ...
Interviewer: Radosław Rybiński
