Cushman & Wakefield targets European retail market for growth

A BIRMINGHAM-based property expert is helping shoppers in Hungary embrace Western shopping habits.
Ross McCall, of the Birmingham office of global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, is overseeing business development activities at three major shopping malls in Budapest.
It is the first time that Cushman & Wakefield has won contracts to manage business development activities of this type in a former Eastern Bloc country, although the firm has had an office in Budapest since 1993.
Mr McCall will be working alongside his Hungarian colleagues, as they bid to attract new customers, commercial partners and tenants to the glamorous and upmarket Arena Plaza in the city centre, and Campona and Polus, which are both on the outskirts of the capital city. Together, the three malls support a shopping area of more than 4m sq ft.
Arena Plaza extends to 1.2m sq ft, Campona to 1.4m sq ft and Polus to 1.6m sq ft. Arena Central is the flagship mall in Hungary, built just over three years ago. The other two are among Hungary’s largest and most prominent shopping malls. Both are around 10 years old, and are among the first to have been built since the country emerged from the communist era in 1990, since when its people have enthusiastically adopted a Western European lifestyle.
Mr McCall, whose involvement in Hungary began two years ago when he managed the launch of the iPhone 4 at Arena Plaza, above, said: “Although the concept of a shopping mall is still comparatively new in Hungary, the market is well developed and savvy owners are looking to improve returns by attracting internationally recognised retail brands and more affluent customers.
“Hungary is a country where retailers and brands are tussling for market share, desperately trying to establish themselves in a crowded but developing market.
“Some of the world’s most recognisable retailers are absent from the high street; despite coffee shops being on every corner, Starbucks has only just opened its second outlet in the country, a sure sign that the market is very different to the UK and full of potential.”
He said the Budapest office had taken over responsibility for marketing and sales, with the overall aim of attracting more tenants and consumers.
“By implementing new methods of asset management, Cushman & Wakefield’s pan-European office network, led from Birmingham, is helping its clients to leapfrog counterparts and deliver superior investment returns,” he said.
The firm is now hoping to extend on its activities in Hungary to other East European countries.
Cushman & Wakefield’s other European shopping interests include a second mall in the heart of Paris and further schemes in Sweden and Denmark.