Lidl Expanding Network, IKEA Invests in AVA Shopping Park, Belgrade Getting New Chinese Shopping Center – 2022 Retrospective, Investments in TRADE CENTERS

Trade centers, especially the announcements of new openings, are certifiably interesting topics in our consumer society and, at the same time, among our readership.

Not even the already fading coronavirus pandemic or the war in Ukraine, or the dark clouds of the economic crisis which are casting a shadow over the global economy had a major effect on the Serbian trade sector in 2022, although, it has to be pointed out, we are witnessing an increasingly noticeable price growth on a daily basis, when it comes to both the basic foodstuffs and all the other goods that can be found on store shelves.

There was also an occasional minor shortage of a certain foodstuff, but it still seems that, even under the worsened conditions, supply chains are finding new channels and that the old adage “where there’s a will, there’s a way” applies here as well.

In the meantime, big investors either realized or commenced new investments, and the arrival of new investors has been announced as well. Some are expanding, whereas other are only just arriving to the Serbian market, to the delight of the consumers, who like to have a choice, but also a good market competition. Some rise from the ashes like the phoenix, but more about this below.

Let’s take a look at the stories and investments that were especially interesting to our readers, placing on our list of the most read articles in the field of TRADE CENTERS.

1. Network expansion and new logistics center of Lidl

The first spot belongs to the well-known “player”, the company Lidl, and the expansion of the network of its stores in Serbia. At the beginning of the year, another retail facility in Belgrade was announced, this time near the city center, in Cvijiceva Street. It was pointed out that it would spread on over 5,000 square meters, that the parking lot for customers would be located on the ground floor, whereas the sales area would be on the first floor.

August brought the stories about the further expansion and new stores, once again in Belgrade, this time in Despota Stefana Blvd, but also about the opening of a second store in Subotica at 115v Beogradski Put Street.

In addition to retail, Lidl also invested in a second logistics center, which also officially opened in August 2022.

– With the investment of EUR 70 million in the logistics center in Lapovo, we have secured a significant backbone of our operations. In addition to having an even more efficient supply of Lidl stores, it is just as important that, with this investment, we have created 250 new jobs in this part of Serbia and that our team now consists of over 3,000 colleagues – stated the director general of Lidl Srbija, Dragan Cigoja.

The logistics center in Lapovo was built in line with the highest sustainability standards and will have characteristics of a “green” facility during its operations.

The Lidl retail network, which spreads across 35 towns of Serbia, is supplied with goods from two centers, Lapovo and Nova Pazova.

2. AVA Shopping Park

The second place belongs to another widely known store chain, IKEA. In its fifth year of operations in Serbia, in May, 2022, AVA Shopping Park opened, next to the IKEA department store.

– With this project, we have once again shown our dedication to the Serbian market and confirmed our initial message – IKEA plans to stay in Serbia for a long time. We want to keep developing our operations, to expand the commercial zone Bubanj Potok and to support local economic development – Katarina Egorova, the regional director of IKEA of Southeast Europe, said at the opening ceremony.

The investment in AVA Shopping Park is worth over EUR 55 million and encompasses retail space of around 19,000 m2, with an excellent offer of more than 35 local and international brands.

3. Chinese shopping center Belgrade

The third place belongs to the new-old shopping center and a shopping location well-known to the people of Belgrade. It is a new Chinese shopping center in Block 72 in New Belgrade, as the Chinese investor bought the offered land at a public auction.

Later during the year, we learned that the investor, Eurasia Trade Center, plans to build the new Chinese shopping center in New Belgrade, between Nova 15, Nova 16 and Jurija Gagarina streets. According to the project documentation that was up for public inspection, the complex will consist of two facilities and a traffic route.

Construction in phases is planned. The first phase entails the construction of facility 1, the traffic route and a part of the parking lot for facility 1. The gross developed area of facility 1 will be 23,400.26 m2, with the accompanying parking lot with 330 spaces, of which 24 are planned for people with disabilities.

The plan is for facility 1 to have access from Jurija Gagarina Street. The facility will have two floors (including the ground floor), and 185 outlets are located on the ground floor, 88 of which are oriented so that the entrance is directly from the floor, whereas 175 outlets are planned on the upper floor. The vertical communication in the facility will take the form of five perimeter staircases, two of which feature freight elevators, and one central staircase. Also, two escalators are to be located in the central part of the facility. The facility has one sanitary block per floor. The length of facility 1 is 156.7 m.

Phase 2 entails the construction of facility 2, whose gross developed area is 10,949.34 m2, with a parking lot with 100 parking spaces. The facility is to have three floors (including the ground floor). The ground floor features 62 outlets, with 27 featuring access from the floor. The first upper floor is to have 54 outlets. The second upper floor is planned as warehouse space. The planned length of the second facility is 294 m.

4. Expansion of Russian store chain Svetofor

In addition to the Chinese, Russian traders are coming too, placing fourth on our list. In early 2022, it was announced that, after a year of operations in Serbia, the retail store chain Svetofor planned to increase its activities in the Serbian market by opening the first market in Belgrade and another three locations in Serbia. They now have 20 stores throughout Serbia.

Svetofor (“traffic light” in Russian – note by eKapija) is part of the Russian Torgservis Group, which operates in Serbia through two independent companies, Beltorg (Svetofor markets) and Ros Produkt Servis Beograd (MERE markets). The first MERE market opened in Batajnica in late 2020, whereas the Svetofor chain commenced its operation several months later. The MERE brand soon plans to enter the markets of Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia.

5. Construction of Bajloni Market

Along with trade centers, many green markets through Serbia are going through an architectural transformation, becoming equality interesting to customers, but also traders. One of them interested our readers especially, placing fifth, namely, the construction of the Bajloni Market in Belgrade in Dzordza Vasingtona Street. On that occasion, the City of Belgrade published the tender for the preparation of the technical documentation. The plan is for all the facilities within the market to be torn down and for new ones to be built in their place. According to the project task, the new market will also have an underground garage.

It is pointed out that the area of the market complex will retain its predominant purpose of the sale, preparation and consumption of food. The plan is to raise the capacities of the counters by around 10-15% (up to 400 counters), depending on the purpose and the type.

6. BIG Shopping Center Cacak

Cacak might soon join the list of cities in which the BIG Shopping Centers operate. This news placed sixth. According to the urban project for the construction of the business facility BIG Cacak, the new shopping center is planned in the area of the former factories Hemijska industrija PKS Lateks and Prvi maj.

The urban project covers an area of 57,640 m2, which has so far been developed by the General Regulation Plan “Industrial Zone, Hospital Complexes and Barracks”. The Urban Project was prepared by Urbanprojekt from Cacak for the needs of the company CEE – BIG Management from Belgrade. It envisages a space under facilities with an area of 20,103 m2 and 556 parking spaces. The total area for other purposes amounts to 51,610 m2, whereas the area for public purposes amounts to 6,019 m2.

It is added that the conceptual design plans a fully new network of internal traffic routes within the complex. Six new facilities in the form of a semi-open block are planned, four of which are in the function of a business space – buildings with stores and the hospitality facilities – restaurants.

7. Turkish Evdema coming to Belgrade

Judging by the variety of foreign investors in the retail sectors, Serbia is attractive to both the east and the west. It is therefore not surprising that special attention was paid to the announcement that the biggest Turkish home decoration retailer chain, Evdema, was coming to Belgrade. This news placed seventh on our list

The chain offers a wide range of furniture and decoration products through its concept stores. In Turkey, the company also has a logistics center, which spreads on over 20,000 m2.

Evdema also has its own production in Turkey, and it cooperates with over 2,000 partners in more than 40 countries. E-commerce is also represented in the biggest Turkish chain, with over 10,000 products.

8. Outdoor shopping center Belgrade

The eighth spot brings us back to Belgrade, which is a frequent host to shopping centers, but in addition to indoor ones, the one “under an open sky” is popular as well, the so-called flea market, or the outdoor shopping center, which should be moved from the current location in New Belgrade to the block between Marka Celebonovica Street, the T6 traffic route and the newly designed traffic route.

– The new location has around 7.3 hectares and, in the functional sense, will be much more favorable compared to the current one. The parcel will also contain a parking lot and all the necessary utility structures, as well as a substation, which will not only serve the needs of the outdoor shopping center, but also some parts of the municipalities of Zemun and New Belgrade – Marko Stojcic, the head city architect, pointed out.

9. Extension of Beo Shopping Center

We round out the list with the extension of the Beo Shopping Center in Belgrade, which placed ninth. The investor in the project is Shopping Center IV LTD Beograd, and the preliminary design was prepared by Urbanistiq doo Beograd. The preliminary design envisages an extension, that is, an expansion, at the level of the second floor of the shopping center in Vojislava Ilica Street.

The plan is to form two new business-commercial outlets and expand the existing open balcony.

The first outlet will be formed on a part of the roof surface above the first floor, in the southeast part of the facility, on around 2,994 m2. A gallery is envisaged within the outlet. The second outlet is planned in the northern part of the roof, on around 1,033 m2.

The open balcony will be expanded in two zones of 302.35 m2 each, and upon the completion of the reconstruction, have an area of around 1,066 m2.

We presented the nine investments that attracted the most attention from our readers when it comes to investments in TRADE CENTERS.

We are also inviting you to see which investments marked 2022 in the TOURISM, ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION and INDUSTRY segments.

Lidl Srbija KD Nova Pazova

IKEA Srbija d.o.o. Beograd

Grad Beograd

Eurasia trade center doo Beograd

CEE-BIG Management Beograd

Urbanprojekt a.d. Čačak

Urbanistiq d.o.o. Beograd

Shopping center IV doo Beograd

ROS PRODUKT SERVIS

Beltorg doo Beograd

Lidl

IKEA

City of Belgrade

Svetofor

Evdema

Eurasia Trade Center

CEE BIG Management

IV LTD Beograd

Urbanprojekt

Urbanistiq

AVA Shopping Park

Chinese shopping center

construction of Bajloni Market

Dragan Čigoja

Marko Stojčić

Katarina Egorova

BIG Shopping Center Čačak

outdoor shopping center Belgrade

flea market New Belgrade

investments in trade centers

investments in shopping centers

investment retrospective

trade centers retrospective

eKapija retrospective

2022 retrospective