The Future of Shopping Complexes: from Sports Areas to Parks and Forests
More places for family leisure and entertainment, food-halls, as well as areas with virtual fitting rooms, 3D-scanners and printers of clothing and other technological innovations — that's the future of shopping centres, which was discussed at the conference Retail: From Y To Z, held as part of the Moscow forum of retail real estate Rent.
The experts of the conference discussed that today the mall is growing from a standard shopping centre to a multifunctional leisure centre for both adults and generation Z, born in the 21st century.
Expansion of the functions of the fuel dispensers requires, first of all, expansion of the internal and external space. Inside the shopping mall, there are now sports areas where, under the guidance of a coach, visitors are engaged in fitness or yoga, listen to lectures on running, mountaineering, tourism and other sports, come to sports festivals and other events. And in European malls they already organise spaces for Bicycle Moto Cross (tricks on bicycles) or even parkour.
Classic food courts are evolving into modern food halls, where, as in the food hall CITY FOOD (Shopping Centre City Mall, St. Petersburg), fast food operators and gastro-enthusiasts work in the same space.
"CITY FOOD has a well-thought-out zoning system: food court on the right, food hall on the left. The audience has a choice: some can go for a hamburger for 200–300 roubles, and others — to gastro-enthusiasts, they have an average check of 450–500 roubles. All guests are in a single restaurant space, in a comfortable atmosphere. Such a space is now being created in the Shopping Centre Europolis, Rostokino (Moscow)", said Oksana Fedulova, marketing and sales director of FORTGROUP, at the conference.
Experts spoke about new technologies in the form of virtual fitting rooms, which shopping malls are beginning to use cautiously: they are expensive and do not always prove their worth. On the Russian market, a trend that has long been relevant in Europe and America and clearly has an impact on retail is gaining strength — renting dresses, décor and furniture. Living by renting not only an apartment and a car, but also furniture and clothing is now a reality.
Fantastic ideas were heard at a forum on the possibility of offering visitors park and even forest areas in shopping centres, spaces with mountain and sea air. It’s possible, however unreal it may seem. Maxim Levchenko, managing partner at FORTGROUP, spoke about plans to create a park of around 3 hectares on the roof of the Shopping and Entertainment Centre Europolis in Rostokino: read the material on our site.
