The development of Moscow Street Retail from the first stores to the present day

Shopping streets of old Moscow, the main waves of development, problems of today (tenants leaving because of the parking situation, changing locations, reorienting areas for small businesses, etc.).

As the direction of street retail counts for more than a century: even in the Middle Ages, small shopkeepers worked on this principle. Later, this format of trade (otherwise called the "format of the first floors") gave way to larger forms - supermarkets and households of the Soviet type.

However, street retail has a significant advantage over other formats of trade - maximum proximity to the customer, focusing on his interests and needs.

Tverskaya st. d.4 (m. Okhotny Ryad). Object Realty4Sale

The revival of street retail in Moscow began with the start of perestroika and the return of the free market to Russia. Shops on the first floors of residential buildings began to appear both on the central, most expensive streets of Moscow, and in residential areas.

From the very beginning to the present day, these two categories have a fundamental difference: they are focused on different target audiences.

Shops near the house and service enterprises in residential areas are intended for residents of a particular microdistrict, often work in the economy segment and offer everyday goods.

Shops in the center are more focused on tourists and customers with high solvency.

On the waves of the economic situation: from recession to boom

The development of Street Retail in the main trade corridors of the center of Moscow is wave-like: it reflects all the crisis phenomena in the state economy.

In 2008 - 2009, the retailers' interest in expensive premises was clearly declining: they began to search for ways to reduce costs, and this resulted in the closure of retail facilities that had low profitability. Prior to this period, many entrepreneurs rented squares on streets of high prestige (such as Stary Arbat, Kuznetsky Most, Tverskaya, etc.), as a "visiting card" or "showcase" of their business. When the economic feasibility of assets came to the fore, even large players in the retail market began to abandon the space in the central streets. Rental rates rose so much that shops could not show profits, despite active pedestrian flows and excellent transport and car access. Here are some examples: in just one year, Euroset left Tverskaya, the Arts Group retailer left the Kuznetsk bridge (several clothing stores of well-known European brands were closed at once), the Diesel chain refused three retail outlets (on Leninsky Prospekt, Petrovka and Tverskaya).

Since 2010, the situation began to improve. Since February, restaurants, grocery discounters have been actively opening, and representatives of prestigious brands that returned a year earlier are returning. The number of vacant areas in the traditionally popular streets in the center of Moscow (Kuznetsk Bridge, Arbat, 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya, Tverskaya, Petrovka) is declining, although rental rates are rising.

The next wave of the crisis hit the country in 2014: negative economic trends became a consequence of the aggravation of the political situation. The decline in the solvency of the population directly affected the income of retailers. The rental rate at Street Retail decreased on average by 25%, as a result of which Moscow fell one position in the ranking of European cities for this indicator (in 2007 and 2012 it was one of the three leaders with maximum rates).

However, the growth in demand for commercial real estate was outlined again at the beginning of 2015. New players entered the street retail market, accounting for about 30% of total demand. Food service was the most active, having squeezed food retail in second place. The share of free space in popular shopping locations in Moscow amounted to 9%.