According to UTG analysts, in the first half of 2024, the average number of visitors to shopping centers in Ukraine increased by 4% compared to the same period last year. In 6 months of 2024, the attendance of shopping centers was 380 people per 1,000 sq.m of GLA, while in 2023 this indicator was at the level of 367 people. At the same time, the attendance of regional format shopping centers increased the most – from 280 to 305 people per 1,000 sq.m of GLA. While attendance at district format shopping centers only increased from 501 to 504 people per 1,000 sq.m of GLA.

According to UTG experts, according to the results of the 2020-2021 coronavirus years, about 44% of the population began to visit shopping facilities less often, and the average market rate of attendance at the beginning of 2022 decreased to 506 people. And due to the war and the closure of shopping centers, attendance in mid-2022 dropped even to a historic low of 291 people.

Only the liberation of part of the occupied regions, the partial return of the population to their hometowns, the reorientation and restructuring of logistics chains, the resumption of operations of international department stores (“LPP”, “Caliope”, “Mango”, “adidas”, “McDonald’s”, “H&M” and “Inditex”) contributed to the gradual stabilization and increase in attendance to 380 people in September 2024. At the same time, the least prone to fluctuations in attendance are district format shopping centers with mainly goods and services of everyday demand. At the same time, greater stability is demonstrated by district facilities with an attendance of 504 people, and high volatility is characteristic of regional facilities.

According to analysts’ forecasts, after the end of the war, the decline in attendance will be especially noticeable in morally outdated, inconveniently located, losing popularity objects.