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10
Retail Trends
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Fast
Retailing
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Ad
Space
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Metro
to expand in Eastern Europe, Asia
Germany's
Metro, the world's No. 4 retailer, is planning to ramp up expansion in
Asia and Eastern Europe, but not in the U.S. "The United States is
currently not on our top-priority list," said Metro CEO Thomas
Unger. "We see great opportunities and challenges in Asia over the
next 10 years." -
August 17, 2009 Reuters
 
The World's Most Expensive Shopping
Streets
Orchard Road prime rents have hit US$325
psf per year, making it the world's 14th most expensive area for
shopkeepers. By contrast, annual prime rents for sites on New
York's Fifth Avenue are US$1,500 psf, or US$922 for sites on the Avenue des
Champs Elysees, in Paris.
Orchard Road is also the fourth most
expensive shopping location in this region - after those in Hong Kong
(Causeway Bay - US$1,213 psf/year), Tokyo (Ginza - US$683 psf/year) and
Seoul (Gangnam Station - US$431 psf/year).
A report by Cushman & Wakefield
(C&W) shows that Singapore's busiest shopping street did slip one place
from its previous 13th position last year but attributed this to the
strength of the euro over the Singapore dollar.
C&W's report tracks retail rents in
the world's top 231 shopping locations across 44 countries. Its data show
that annual prime rents increased by 11.3 per cent for Orchard Road while in
the top three most expensive locations in New York's Fifth Avenue, Hong
Kong's Causeway Bay and Paris's Avenue des Champs Elysees, rents increased
by 11.1, 6.97 and 14.5 per cent respectively.
At the fourth and fifth most expensive
locations - London's New Bond Street (US$814 psf/year) and Tokyo's Ginza -
annual rents increased by 20.95 and 4.8 per cent respectively.
Although C&W expects retail rents in
Singapore to continue their upward trend, it noted that rents in other
cities have increased faster, notably in India. It believes that this will
help make Singapore more competitive and maintain its attractiveness as a
retail destination in the region.
Rental growth across Asia as a whole
increased by 23.8 per cent. C&W head of retail services (Asia Pacific)
Sebastian Skiff said: 'Of particular note is the robust performance in Tokyo
driven largely by lack of supply. India saw particularly strong growth, with
rents nationally up 53.5 per cent.'
He also noted that Australia, Korea,
Singapore and Hong Kong saw solid growth from already relatively high
bases.
On the demand for prime retail space,
C&W's global head of retail, John Strachan, said: 'We are seeing the
emergence of a line-up of global shopping destinations, whether Fifth Avenue
in New York, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong or Avenue des Champs Elysees in
Paris, where retailers are using flagship stores in prestige locations to
leverage the value of their brands.'
Globally, Chicago's Oak Street was the
location with the biggest rental increases in local currency. Rents for
prime properties doubled in one year.
This was followed by rents in New Delhi's
Ansal Plaza and Connaught Place which saw annual increases of 87.5 per cent
while rents in St Petersburg's Nevsky Prospekt increase by 81.8 per cent.
- 2007 November 20 SINGAPORE
BUISNESS TIMES
 
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