Recession hits out of town shopping

Monday 06 July 2009

The recession has brought an end to the 'explosive growth' in out-of-town car showrooms, furniture warehouses and do-it-yourself retail developments, the AD reports on Monday.

The total size of out-of-town shopping centres has grown from 16 million square metres in 1996 to almost 29 million square metres today, the paper says, quoting figures from research group Locatus.

'But now you see stagnation,' Locatus director Gerard Zandbergen told the paper. And he says, more retail areas will become vacant. 'After the summer, when lots of retailers have had a couple of bad quarters, the vacancy rate will grow. In particular the smaller independents will be hit.'

Retail trade association Hoofdbedrijfschap Detailhandel told the paper project developers were finding it hard to get financing for new projects.

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