District shopping centers with an area of up to 20,000 sq.m show the best efficiency and remain the most popular retail real estate format in Ukraine, said Evgenia Loktionova, director of UTG. “The district shopping centers are the most resistant to all shocks and force majeure situations. This was shown by the realities of the quarantine period, this statement is true even now, during the war. The most durable and economically in demand were the commercial objects with a maximum area of 15-20 thousand sq.m, which are located in densely populated areas and have a sufficient list of operators necessary to meet the needs of people who live nearby,” she told the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

The sustainability of this format is provided by pedestrian accessibility, people do not have to deal with transport to buy food, appliances, clothes, pet products or medicine. “As a result, in all such shopping facilities, the operators trade well, and the management companies note almost zero vacancy during all of our recent trash years,” said Loktionova.

An important factor of stability is that objects of this format can easily be powered by one generator and run almost the entire shopping center on it. “Another positive feature of district shopping centers is the presence of a clear portrait of its buyers, their consumer preferences and the level of average income. Therefore, you can choose the right operators and count on 100 percent occupancy even if operators change throughout the entire activity,” says Loktionova. According to her assessment, in the case of a “weak” tenant, there are no problems with finding a replacement for him, since there are more than 450 retail offices that are developing in the domestic market.