When one thinks of shopping, one immediately thinks of boutiques in the city, but many Flemings like to go to department stores along the gray streets of our country. Belgian fashion brands love it: they are increasingly mistaking the city for the stone street, because international competitors with money and customers who want to save don’t make it easy for them. “But the time of the soulless, old-fashioned retail warehouse is thankfully over.”
Our Flemish paved roads will not win any beauty awards. Yet they are huge attractions, thanks to the retail stores that will win the public prize. Since the emergence of the shopping phenomenon in the 1960s, largely thanks to the growing popularity of the car, Flemings have loved Steenweg shops. And a break is not yet in sight.
“Consumers simply like it when they can shop in a very functional way,” says Els Breugelmans, professor of retail and marketing at KU Leuven Campus Antwerp. “You have shops that stand alone along a paved road, but you see them increasingly congregating in business parks.” This is huge added value for all major Belgian players betting on retail warehouses. “People attract people,” says Charlotte Delfosse of the Bel & Bo clothing chain. “The best is a good mix of similar brands and players from other sectors, such as a supermarket, Action or Kruidvat. Those are always the strongest combinations. “
Pure convenience, that’s another story in the city
Academic research also shows this works. Professor Breugelmans: “The law of good neighborliness also applies here. A reinforcing effect occurs if a store is close to a store with similar or complementary products. For this reason, a Torfs and a JBC are very often close to each other. It sounds a bit counterintuitive, but it works because as a consumer you often know which way to go to make sure you find what you are looking for. And then there is the convenience, because you only need to park once to visit several shops in quick succession ”.
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This convenience is extremely important for retail stores and appeals to everyone, but especially young families. Elise Vanaudenhove, CEO of the Bristol shoe brand, agrees. “What is always missing in a young family? Time and money. With the warehouses you drive to the door and get back to your car within half an hour, 45 minutes. You don’t have to pay for parking and you don’t have to walk 25,000 steps before reaching the store. In the city, this is a completely different story. “
Because many Belgian brands no longer find the city attractive
All major Belgian players agree that it is not the retail stores that are under pressure, but the shops in the city centers. This has many factors, but one of the most important is the growing inaccessibility of cities. Due to traffic jams on access roads, environmental zones and traffic plans, people are no longer able to enter the city. “More and more cities are also making their center car-free and moving parking spaces to the suburbs,” says Griet Sauvenay, commercial director of LolaLiza. “And paid parking is expensive. You don’t have all those problems with retail warehouses.
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The skyrocketing rents in the city also discourage many of the major Belgian players. According to international real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield, the rent of a retail property on the Meir quickly amounts to 1,550 euros per square meter. On the Boomsesteenweg, on the A12, it’s only 135 euros, twelve times less. This trend is also ongoing in other smaller cities. Katrien Vangrunderbeeck, JBC’s press officer, bluntly states: “Prices in the city centers of Ghent or Brussels are inaccessible to us as local players. We recently opened a new store at Bruul in Mechelen. City shops remain interesting for us, but not at any price ”.
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The E5 also has only retail stores – all city stores will have a track in the future. “In recent years, some of the major international players have controlled entire shopping streets and raised prices,” said Kristof De Sutter, CEO of e5. “We also need a lot of space to showcase our entire range. In addition to clothing from international brands, we sell eight labels that we produce ourselves. The surface of our retail warehouses is on average from 800 to 1000 square meters. Such an area is very expensive in the city. That way you don’t keep him financially healthy as a Flemish player. “
Extreme caution is also a must in Bristol. CEO Elise Vanaudenhove: “We still have a few shops in town, but it certainly can’t be said that shopping on Rue Neuve in Brussels is easy unless you live there. The city has prestige, it’s true, but let’s think three times “.
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The “fun” comes from the fun shopping
And we thought retail warehouses were a bit outdated. It felt like this for a while, as ecommerce and fun shopping emerged. That phenomenon of shopping on a day out is typical in the city. “But the crown somehow thwarted that,” says Griet Sauvenay of LolaLiza. The fun of fun shopping was over – the restaurants were closed and people didn’t feel very safe. In retail warehouses you could easily keep your distance and jump in and out quickly.
The impending financial recession is also playing in the favor of retail warehouses. Charlotte Delfosse of Bel & Bo: “Everything is getting more expensive and people will buy in a much more targeted way. You did five to ten shops in town and saw what the problem was at the end of the day. Now consumers know exactly what they need and stick to a store or two where they know they’ll find it. The retail warehouse then turns to them. And that free parking is also a factor for the wallet. “
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“Much more customer experience in such a retail warehouse than before”
The result? More and more free places in the cities. Shoppers don’t like that view, so they might as well stay away. It’s a bit of a self-sustaining phenomenon. Professor Breugelmans: “It is precisely for this reason that the government is working very hard on strengthening the core and changing the shop. Just as they try to preserve the existing space with the concrete shift, they want to preserve the city shops with the shop shift and make sure they don’t move onto the paved streets. But it is difficult. Brands and dealers mainly listen to the customer. This creates friction and tension. The shops in the city center feel overwhelmed by the retail districts or the retail stores, because they get less traffic because of them. “
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Gone are the days when retail warehouses had to be functional only.
Lise Conix, Torfs’ brand new CEO, also thinks this is less important for suburban stores. “We have noticed that the city center is under pressure, but it is not the intention that retail warehouses will weigh on the strong urban centers. We strongly believe in both large retail stores and beautiful urban centers and shopping malls. Furthermore, the development of the belt, which is also the result of the retail stores, is not exactly beautiful. “
In perception too, the gap between city and retail warehouses is closing at breakneck speed. “The days when retail stores were only meant to be functional are long gone,” says Katrien Vangrunderbeeck of JBC. “For us, the experience in each store is important. Even more so in our city shops, because there the risk of competition is greater, but certainly also in our 94 points of sale. The JBC children’s corner is very well known ”.
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Today E5 devotes so much importance to experience that it prefers not to talk about retail stores anymore but about retail boutiques. “Because we absolutely want to match the shopping experience of the city,” says CEO Kristof De Sutter. “In our refurbished store in Waregem, for example, we do fragrance marketing and have a much larger stock in our flagship stores. Every Thursday we organize there too ‘fashion and bubbles’, and we will remain open until 20:00. ” This approach is working. In 2023, e5 will open three more flagship stores and another store. Almost all major players have expansion plans, particularly in the retail warehouse segment.
What about online shoppers and Koning Auto’s resignation?
But will retail warehouses keep up with this? Koning Auto is facing increasing headwinds, even in non-urban areas. Griet Sauvenay from LolaLiza: “If people start using cars less, that’s another advantage for cities. Public transport is generally much better organized there. But more and more people in the suburbs are already taking their electric bike or speedelec to travel fifteen kilometers further to the track shops. They put their shopping in their bicycle bags ”.
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And what about online shopping? All retailers see this as an opportunity rather than a threat. Griet Sauvenay of LolaLiza: “There is a continuous interaction between online and our stores. People prepare online or they can pick up their order online and, if necessary, change it immediately in the store. “According to Charlotte Delfosse of Bel & Bo, that won’t change anytime soon:” That hybrid system has become the new normal and retail warehouses too. they are responding very well to this. “
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