Russia has long had individual cases of healthcare operators renting in shopping centres, for example, Patero Clinic in Europolis (former Golden Babylon), which was opened back in 2011. Yet the trend set in at the end of 2014, when traditional retailors started to slow down their activity and operators providing medical services started considering moving in. Healthcare segment is better presented in office centres, as well as in multi-purpose centres with retail, but they are more than happy to settle in the so-called classical shopping centres.
Take as an example the clinic Semeiny Doctor (Family Doctor) in St-Petersburg’s River House retail and office centre or Moscow Chaika clinics located in multi-use centres Metropolis and Gorod Stolits. A Vietnamese acupuncture centre is open in the multi-purpose complex Khanoi-Moscow, SM-Clinic can be found in Technopolis Moscow, and Lotte Plaza multi-purpose centre hosts a medical centre Orimed. In addition, medical centres are open in Megapolis in Prospect Andropova and Druzhba shopping centre at Novosloboskaya metro station.
What is the interest?
The share of medical centres and beauty salons in the portfolio of foreign shopping centres is less than 5% while an average rented space is about 350 m2, reports CRE, though the numbers are rising. This is connected to very few requirements a shopping centre must comply with in terms of its location and people flow, compared to fashion operators, which allows mall owners to effectively use the less crowded areas of their shopping centres.
According to the estimations of Colliers International, a successful healthcare operator can generate an additional people flow of cash clients. As a rule, medical centres are behind traditional retail outlets in terms of people flow, though a targeted people flow may significantly increase the performance of neighbouring pharmacies and health stores.
The advantage of healthcare operators is that unlike, for instance, restaurants, which draw crowds mostly in the evening, they account for bigger day visits. A research carried out by ICSC in Australia revealed that 46% of all the visits related to health and body care fall into the 8am-1pm slot.
“Healthcare in shopping centres per se is not as profitable as the traditional retail one. As for Russia, it is quite down-sized. Most often, here we talk about manicure, pedicure, aesthetic and machine cosmetology, and partly about ophthalmology (lens fitting, eye tests) and pharmacies. Russian legal system as well as the Sanitary Rules and Norms are very strict. Only a few such services can survive in a shopping centre, as their requirements lists are very short. It is not financially feasible and very pricey to build a full-scale clinic in a shopping centre,” says Alexander Morozov, CEO S.A. Ricci.