Community malls continue to grow and could further be spurred by flooding effect

Nov. 10, 2011 - PRLog -- According to Asharawan Wachananont, Associate Director of Retail Services, the effect of the floods could lead to more developers looking at community malls in areas where they have not been considered before. "When a situation like a flood occurs people want to have a place close to them where they can shop and also where they can relax and feel a sense of community", she said. In flood prone areas the development of community malls will need to take into consideration the height of the lowest floor as this would need to be accessible at all times along with good back-up electricity and water equipment. "Some should consider extra services especially cleansing and hygiene areas, as even heavy rain can cause problems and people will want to feel comfortable when in a mall and the community aspect will increase in importance", added Ms Wachananont.

For Q3 2011, supply growth slowed q/q for Q3 2011 with just around 11,000 sq m being completed in the form of just one community mall. Normally retail centres open in the last few months of the year  to be ready for the busy festive season and a scheduled addition of 260,000 sq m of new retail space is set to be completed in Q4 2011, including Terminal 2 and Central Rama 9 along with the reopening of the whole of Centralworld. Rentals rates escalated q/q by around 0.3% and take up increased by approximately 0.2% for the same period.

The floods have highlighted the problem of distribution for supermarkets in particular and many shelves have been emptied while others remain fairly well stocked. According to Patima Jeerapaet, Managing Director of Colliers, retailers would need to reconsider their logistics operations in light of the devastation wrecked by the flooding. "There needs to be a number of locations that can supply essentials to retail centres in Bangkok and the central provinces so they are not reliant on one source and they must be located on higher ground with good access to elevated highways", he said. Mr Jeerapaet also suggested that the government set up a number of emergency supply centres that can stock up on non-perishable items such as bottled water and tinned food. Contingency will be the key focus for both private retailers and governments in not only preparing for a flood but also other potential disaster situations such as earthquakes. "We must not only look at floods for it wasn't long ago that everybody was concerned about earthquakes so we must be prepared for many different potential disasters" Mr Jeerapaet added.  

One noticeable feature of the floods was the number of shophouses opting to build concrete defences as opposed to the use of sandbags. According to Tony Picon, Associate Director of Research, many were concerned that the floods, if they did come, would last for over a month. "Many shopkeepers realised that sandbags may not be the best solution for a long term flood and they also had some time to erect stronger barriers", he said. Most retailers are likely to stay put but Mr Picon suggested that better solutions will be sought after once the flooding has died down. "Many will have a long hard think during the dry season as to how to protect their properties and the use of aluminum or steel mountable and de-mountable barriers that can be erected swiftly may be considered". Many countries have suffered severe flooding in recent years including Australia and UK and new technologies have sprung up as a result. "Necessity is the mother of invention and this could lead to innovative protection products being developed", suggested Mr Picon.

Approximately 11,000 sq m was completed in Q3 2011 in the Suburban Bangkok East area from “The Nine Neighborhood Center”.

The future supply scheduled to be completed in the last quarter of 2011 amounts to more than 260,000 sq m, with approximately 215,000 sq m as shopping malls. A significant amount of space will come from Central Rama 9 and Terminal 21, with more than 124,000 sq m and both projects are scheduled to open in Q4 2011.

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Colliers International Thailand - Experienced Real Estate Property Consultants in Thailand- was established through combining the resources of the global real estate services firm Colliers International, and Pasupat Realty Co.Ltd.