In 2020, the year of lockdown, 117 new store openings and 12 new brands have joined the VIA Outlets portfolio.
In total, new leases, renewals, upsizes and downsizes representing a total area of 43,300sq m. have been concluded thus far in 2020, with even more deals still in legal.
The list of deals and openings includes American Eagle, which has opened its first European outlets in Fashion Arena Prague Outlet and Landquart Fashion Outlet in Switzerland; Michael Kors, which signed and opened boutiques in Hede Fashion Outlet outside Gothenburg, Landquart Fashion Outlet and Sevilla Fashion Outlet and upsized its stores in Vila do Conde Porto Fashion Outlet and Batavia Stad Fashion Outlet in Amsterdam. In addition to this, Oslo Fashion Outlet welcomed the Swiss chocolate store Lindt and Batavia Stad Fashion Outlet opened several stores including Royal Delft, the first-ever Radley boutique on the European mainland and the first experience outlet store from F1-driver Max Verstappen. Furthermore, Cavalli Class was also welcomed into the VIA Outlets portfolio, specifically to Batavia Stad and Zweibrucken Fashion Outlet near Frankfurt.
Jorge Sánchez Mera, Head of Leasing, comments: “Our leasing team has redoubled its efforts to remerchandise VIA Outlets’ centres despite this year’s lockdowns and centre closures. It has been great to see heightened interest from retailers even during these turbulent times – proving that outlets are more relevant than ever in the current retail climate.”
Otto Ambagtsheer, CEO, adds: “Remerchandising is a cornerstone of VIA Outlets’ 3 R’s strategy as it allows us to offer guests an unrivalled mix of the very best international and local brands. Working closely with brand partners has been key during the Covid-19 pandemic and seeing that brands are choosing to renew contracts or take up additional space during this highly unusual year is a great reflection of the brands’ trust in VIA Outlets as a business partner and of the overall resilience of the outlet sector.”
