One in ten tenants has been changed in Romania's largest mall

Around 25 stores have been closed after 18 months of operating in Bucharest's biggest mall - Baneasa Shopping City in northern Bucharest -, but replacements were found, so the project's occupancy rate is 97%, according to company representatives.

"We too have had tenants leaving; some of them, affected by the global crisis, shut down their entire store network on the Romanian market, and even in other countries. However, we reacted to the signs of crisis back in late 2008, so we have only 5-6 stores available," Ali Ergun Ergen, CEO of Baneasa Developments and manager of Romania's largest retail park, Baneasa, told ZF.

New tenants attracted into the project include GAP and Debenhams, two of the world's largest clothing retailers, and Romanian bookstore chain Diverta. Many stores in the mall have their shutters closed, but some of them display advertisements of the new stores to be opened.

"We have a 97% occupancy rate in Baneasa Shopping City mall, i.e. 5-6 non-rented, while other tenants will open their stores soon. From the project's opening (April 2008), around 25 tenants left, accounting for 10-12% of the mall's area, but they created an opportunity for other tenants to be brought in, such as GAP, Debenhams and Diverta. Their rent levels are close to the values of the old contracts," Ali Ergun Ergen, CEO of Baneasa Developments, which manages Baneasa retail park, the largest on the Romanian market, told ZF. The Baneasa business is controlled by businessman Gabriel Popoviciu.

Ergun says it is normal for up to 15% of tenants of a mall to change in its first year in business, with a particularly large number of stores closed this year because of a series of retailers closing their entire store chain.

Ergun manages an around 300-store project, which includes stores in the Feeria shopping gallery in front of the Carrefour store, as well as IKEA, Bricostore and Mobexpert stores, with retailers' sales amounting to around 500 million euros per year.