Retail Heads to the Regions, Gets More Specific in Moscow

Gone are the days when provincial residents had to travel to Moscow to get their hands on some specialty sausage or other deficit consumer goods.
Real estate experts are predicting that growth and construction of retail space in the regions will be the main trends in the future. Meanwhile, steeper competition in large cities will force some malls to choose between finding a niche and closing down for good.

Large Russian cities, with a population of 500,000 and more, are well stocked with retail space, said Ivan Fedyakov, general manager of analytical agency INFOLine. Ninety percent of malls that opened in the last seven years are located in these cities. Moscow accounted for 36 percent of new retail space in Russia this year, according to Cushman & Wakefield real estate agency. Novosibirsk, Yaroslavl, Kazan and St. Petersburg also completed major projects.

But cities with a population between 100,000 and 500,000 people still have a shortage of malls.    Read More

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