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About the market > Basic facts

Basic facts

The combined size and maturity of the Nordic shopping center industry is maybe surprising to some. In fact, the first purposely built enclosed shopping center in the world is not to be found in the USA. It is instead Shopping that opened October 1955 in the small town of Luleå in the very north of Sweden. And the developments have continued ever since so the region has the highest shopping center density in Europe.

The four countries Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden together cover an area of 1 155 145 square kilometers. Total population is 25,26 million. Average PPP per inhabitant was 2010 estimated at €41 150. Private consumption average some 45% where of approximately 35% is spent on pure retail. Total retail sales for 2010 amounted to 190 billion euros or € 7 522 per inhabitant.

If we define a shopping center as a commercial area with minimum 5.000 sq m of GLA and 10 stores, run as an entity with common marketing and management, the four countries together have well over 700 centers. The total GLA is 13 million sq m (app. 140 million square feet) which make up for 0,52 sq m per person. Retail sales in shopping centers for 2010 was approximately 61 billion euros or € 2 375 per inhabitant.

The largest enclosed center is Itäkeskus in Helsinki, Finland, with app. 113.000 sq m GLA. Kungens Kurva, in Stockholm Sweden, is the largest big box and traditional retail mixed use center, a retail park of app. 170.000 sq m of GLA. This is also the location for the first Nordic Heron City.

Real estate owners and operators
Many shopping center owners are Pan-Nordic. Citycon Oy, www.citycon.fi, has 33 centers in Finland and Sweden  totaling some 634 800 sq m of GLA, plus another 70 850 sq m in the Baltics. Steen & Strøm ASA, www.steenstrom.com, has 26 centers of their own in Denmark Norway and Sweden covering 624 565 sq m, plus a number of Danish centers in management. Olav Thon Group, www.olavthon.no, has 23 centers whereof two in Sweden, altogether 460 185 sq m. They are also part owner of the AMFI group covering 442 102 sq m in Norway. Other large owners are Atrium Ljungberg (SE), Diligentia (SE), KF Fastigheter (SE) Sektor Eiendomsutvikling (NO) plus Danica and Dades in Denmark. Major management companies are Aberdeen Property Investors, DTZ,  Jones Lang LaSalle and Newsec.

Retail
retail in Scandinavia has grown strongly the entire last decade. The economic crises left the area fairly untouched, with only Denmark showing any notable decline in 2009. Most retail branches have fared better in Scandinavia than elsewhere these last years. There are a large number of Nordic retail chains operating all four countries making it a tough market to enter as there are few vacancies. Multi nationals like IKEA and H&M are know by most, but there are also Acne, Bestseller/Vero Moda, Clas Ohlson, Dagmar, Dressmann, Filippa K, IC Companys, Indiska, In Wear, KappAhl, Lindex, Monki, Nudie Jeans, Odd Molly, Weekday and Wesc among others going international today.