Malmö Designer Village planned for 2025 debut, to be Scandinavia's largest

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 6, 2021

Sweden is to host Scandinavia’s largest designer outlet village with the project’s first phase set to open in summer 2025 while phase two will follow in autumn 2027.

Malmö Designer Village will include premium retail, dining, seasonal events and “multisensory experiences”.

The development is being delivered by international specialist outlet centre firm Rioja Estates, which was also the developer behind the new McArthurGlen West Midlands Designer Outlet that opened this year in the UK.

It will feature 18,000 sq m of “premium international and new-to-market brands in its first phase” with the second phase taking it to almost 27,000 sq m. 

Giles Membrey, MD of Rioja Estates, said: “For both Malmö Designer Village and the Grantham Designer Outlet Village, which we’re developing in the UK, we’re seeing significant levels of interest from brands in opening stores in these retail destinations, demonstrating that brands understand that bricks-and-mortar retail is alive and well, and that it is in fact thriving in designer outlets.”

Interest from brands is no surprise given how buoyant the outlet centre market has been in Europe and the UK. It's one of the sectors where store openings and footfall/spending have recovered fastest from the pandemic.

The developers are predicting Malmö footfall (by the time the project’s two phases are complete) of 2.5 million people a year, “placing it among the top 25% of outlets in Europe in terms of visitor numbers”. And they’re also forecasting visitor expenditure of around €655 million once phase two is completed, up from €468 million when phase one opens. It’s also estimating sales density of over €4,600 per sq m in its first phase.

The location will service south Sweden and the Copenhagen, Denmark, region and will have 3.8 million residents within 90 minutes of the scheme, which Rioja said is “a larger catchment than any existing outlet in Scandinavia and 86% greater than the average for outlet centres in Nordic countries”.

As well as those living nearby, it added that 26 million global tourists stay within 60 minutes of the scheme each year. “With its appeal to local, regional and tourist audiences, the designer village is expected to attract over 1.9 million affluent, high-spending visitors per year for phase one”.

Average purchasing power per capita in the area is estimated to be 21% greater than the European outlet industry average and similar to Neumünster Designer Outlet or Wertheim Village, both in Germany. Phase two spending should put it on par with the Roppenheim The Style Outlets in France.
 
The development will have “distinctive shopping streets and landscaped gardens” that will host “a programme of seasonal events [to] create unique points of difference to attract visitors, encourage repeat visits and increase dwell time”, we’re told. That means “restorative and high energy areas, such as spaces for yoga, outdoor dining and an organic food market and dedicated areas for physical exercise, children’s play areas, and a varied food and beverage offer”.