Comment of the day: Grand Cinema Digiplex opens at Baneasa The retail map of Bucharest changes again

Today Baneasa Shopping City made a move that will change the map of Malls in Bucharest. It opened “Grand Cinema Digiplex”, upgrading the existing status of the retail project.

“Is this important for the market?” many friends of mine ask me. The answer is simple: Yes, it is, for various reasons:

·         First of all, it transforms Baneasa Shopping City into a “complete” Mall. So the standards of competition change again.

·         Thousands of people who live in the center and the North of Bucharest might probably change their cinema destination. A new option has been created.

·         Let me tell you also a minor detail (for you) but a very important one for the tenants of the first floor of Baneasa Mall: It provides added value to their shops. Keep in mind that in all the Malls in Romania the ground floor is usually “busier” than the upper levels. This change will help the tenants of the first floor gain some more traffic.

·         This is good for us as consumers as well. AFI Palace, Bucuresti Mall, Sun Plaza and the other Malls will need to do something in order to gain momentum again. Healthy competition with new services is always good for us.

·         Thus I am sure that next year we will see new investments and improvements by the competition.

As crisis has entered in its fourth consecutive year, the retail market of Bucharest is the only segment that has seen more projects and investments comparing to 2008 standards. The new Digiplex changes the retail map of Bucharest and for this we will discuss more in the future (with more figures as well).

As I say to all new investments, I wish to the new Digiplex “success”!