2022: Successful Year for Prague Fashion Arena Returning to Pre-Covid Attendance and Revenues
Fashion Arena Outlet Prague had another successful year. Almost three million customers passed through the gates of the Štěrboholy outlet centre last year, which was 40% more than in 2021. That year was still affected by government retail lockdowns. Customer traffic has thus reached the same values as in the record-breaking pre-pandemic year 2019, including sales revenues. With regard to the level of inflation and energy prices, which had a significant impact on domestic purchasing power last year, the centre's management considers these indicators to be a successful business result.
2022 was the first post-Covid year without retail traffic restrictions in the Czech Republic. On the other hand, the industry was affected by many new impacts and events, perhaps the strongest of which was the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the following loss of Russian clientele. During the year, it has been replaced by a number of other nationalities, which has also been reflected in the national and geographical origin of the arriving MICE groups. While the clientele from Russia and China had prevailed in the pre-Covid years, customers from several other countries took over the higher positions in the ranking last year, with Israel having become the long-term leader. The largest group arriving to Fashion Arena Outlet Prague last year was from Egypt; slightly smaller were MICE groups from Saudi Arabia, India and Denmark.
The number of purchases made by foreign visitors increased by 235% year-on-year, and in 2023 the center expects 70% of the total attendance from 2019. Therefore, this year it will focus on increasing the share of clients from East and Southeast Asia and will also focus on South America and India.
To achieve its goals, the Fashion Arena Outlet has made several investments and innovations: the novelty of 2022 was equipping the popular VIP lounge with a large TV screen and videoconference equipment, the lounge has thus become a full-fledged conference room. The stores in the centre have also changed: "Last year we focused on the redesign and expansion of flagship sports brands. Boxer de Rue, Kilpi, Hally Hansen, Puma and adidas, whose store is the largest in the Eastern European region, re-introduced their stores with a new design. However, completely new brands also arrived, such as Jolleo jewellery or Aldo shoes," says Veronika Tebichová, leasing director of the Fashion Arena Prague.
In 2022, the centre organized its fifteenth anniversary celebrations, attracting over 50,000 customers, and the same number attended the Black Friday event during the first Advent weekend. One of the principal priorities of Fashion Arena Outlet Prague last year was the topic of environmental and social sustainability. A project of volunteers from the management of the center teamed up with the Šatník Foundation has opened an official collection point of material aid for refugees from Ukraine. Other collections of material aid for the Single Mothers Club and Klokánek – a local children's facility, and also the annual Earth Hour have become traditional. The European VIA Outlets Group, which also includes the Prague centre, supports sustainable development standards in all aspects of business through the Beyond Sustainable strategy.
Last year was the strongest in history for the parent company: compared to the pre-Covid year 2019, it observed a 3% increase in sales revenues, and the attendance of the group's centres grew by as much as 21%.