Sofia malls welcome global brands to Bulgaria

Global brand-name apparel, footwear and cosmetics retailers and restaurant chains have opted for flagship stores at the two Western-style shopping malls due to open shortly in Sofia.

The first of the two malls, City Center Sofia, will welcome its first customers on Friday, May 12. The second shopping center, Mall of Sofia, will open on May 30.

Cosmetics and fragrances retailer Sephora and British retailer Marks&Spencer are the most high-profile tenants of City Center Sofia. Around 100 companies have leased premises in City Center Sofia. Ten of them, including lingerie brand women'secret, specialty coffee chain coffeeheaven and Italian pasta and pizza restaurant chain Pastarito, will be making their local debut.

Sports retailer Intersport has leased space for its local flagship store at Mall of Sofia. The shopping center will house the second local coffeeheaven outlet.

The Austrian cafe chain Testa Rossa will also have an outlet in the Mall of Sofia.

The 44,000 square meter of City Center Sofia includes 22,000 of lettable space, 2 underground and 4 above-ground floors.

The owners said the mall will open with an occupancy rate of 80%. The rents vary between 20 to 60 euro sq/m versus 30-60 euro/sq m for the Mall of Sofia.

The fully occupied 78,000 sq m Mall of Sofia will have a 12-screen Cineplex, an IMAX theater, restaurants, a food court as well as 10,000 sq m of office space.

The Irish Independent newspaper recently quoted a research report by real-estate giant Cashman&Wakefield according to which Bulgaria has almost zero square metres of shopping centers per 1,000 people versus 15.2 sq m in nearby Romania. The EU average is 171.1 sq m per 1,000 people.