Ali Ergun Ergen, head of Băneasa mall: We are out of the crisis

Ali Ergun Ergen, CEO of Băneasa Developments, which manages Băneasa retail park in northern Bucharest, says the crisis is a thing of the past for the project he runs, after reporting a 10-15% rise in visitor and sales numbers against last year.

The manager signals the appetite for consumption of inhabitants in the city's most expensive area, with 75% of the visitors of Băneasa Shopping City coming from sectors 1, 2 and 3 of Bucharest, where homes are 20-30% more expensive than the Bucharest average.
"Băneasa (Shopping City i.e.) has definitely left the crisis behind," Ergun told ZF in an interview. "I cannot say the same for the entire retail market, but September and October were better than last year, November was slightly weaker, but December started out well," added the head of Băneasa.
Ergun manages spaces that accommodate at least 300 stores in Băneasa Shopping City operate, with the mall also including Carrefour, IKEA, Bricostore and Mobexpert stores.
Other malls in Romania have seen business pick-up, at least in the past few weeks, amid the nearing of winter holidays and amid promotional offers organised by retailers. The market has in the past few years gotten rid of weaker players, so that, whilst some projects are improving their performance, others have run out of steam, with the biggest failure so far being that of the City Mall project, which entered bankruptcy proceedings.