The shopping center sector hopes to maintain the upward trend in sales during the last quarters of the year and points to the Black Friday and Christmas campaigns as key to closing a year of records. During the first half of the year, Spanish shopping centers and parks increased their sales by 12.3%, as revealed by the Spanish Association of Shopping Centers at its annual congress.
Its president, Eduardo Ceballos, has released the sales data for the first half of the year and revealed the good performance also during the summer months, pointing out that July and August “have been very good months”, with September “somewhat more unusual “. “due to the weather throughout the country.” “We think that the fourth quarter will maintain the trend of the rest of the year,” he said.
During the first six months of the year, the sectors that have grown the most are home furnishings (+7.6%), fashion and accessories (+5.8%) and restaurants (+3.5%), according to the AECC data. The influx to these spaces, which will total 579 throughout Spain at the end of the year, has grown by 8.4% compared to the same period in 2022.
Ceballos highlighted that the general feeling of shopping center managers is optimism: “we think there will be a good end to the year that will confirm growth.” He does so based on consumer confidence data, which in June rose to 94.4%, a figure that he has described as “very high, thirty points more than the previous year.” “The consumer has confidence in the economy because the labor market is very active,” although he assures that they will remain “attentive to possible variations in consumer trends.”
10 new shopping centers for all of Spain
In terms of new investments, the president of the entity has indicated that the sector is in a “contradictory” moment due to its slowdown throughout Europe, affected by higher interest rates. However, he points out that Spain “is one of the countries where it is working best”, something that “has to encourage foreign investment.”
Spain will close 2023 with ten new shopping centers compared to the previous year. Three of them have already opened their doors and added 71,000 more square meters of commercial space: A Revolta, in Carballo (A Coruña), Jaén Plaza (Jaén) and La Finca Grand Café (Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid).
The province of Madrid will add two new commercial spaces: Imagina Parque Comercial, in Getafe, and Nexum Retail Park, in Fuenlabrada. León will open Oalmacenter, Málaga will add the new Estepona shopping park), Rambla Shopping will arrive in Cartagena; While in the Canary Islands the Adeje Shopping (Tenerife) and Paseo de La Sal (Lanzarote) commercial park will open their doors. All these openings will add 134,000 more square meters to the country’s commercial area.