Russian malls lose up to 30% of footfall, developer’s son says

A woman walks past a closed ‘re:Store’, an Apple retailer in a shopping mall in St. Petersburg, Russia March 2, 2022. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov/File Photo

June 13 (Reuters) – Russian shopping malls are ‘turned off’ and have lost up to 30% of footfall as Western brands exodus, the son of one of the country’s most prominent property developers said on Monday from Russia.

Emin Agalarov, a pop star and first vice-president of the Crocus Group founded by his billionaire father Aras Agalarov, was quoted by media outlet RBC as saying the loss of anchor tenants could spell the end of shopping malls.

“If you have a luxury mall, you need Prada, Chanel, Louis Vuitton; if it’s the middle category – Zara, H&M, Reebok, Adidas,” RBC quoted Emin Agalarov as saying in an interview. “And if you don’t have them, then the place becomes depersonalized.”

He estimated that the Crocus Group’s huge flagship malls, Vegas and Crocus City, on the outskirts of Moscow, had lost 30% of their traffic. Crocus could be forced to open a bowling alley or a warehouse if he found himself with vast spaces that he could not rent.

A press issue from Crocus went unanswered, and the band did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Many Western brands have left Russia or suspended operations since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24. A handful of former McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) restaurants reopened under a new brand on Sunday in one of the highest profile examples of an exiting Western brand. Read more

Many retailers have simply opted to close for the time being, leaving Russians with fewer stores to choose from in malls and in Moscow’s luxury Central District.

Reuters reporting; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Peter Graff

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