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Electrotehnica & UMEB Sites, Bucharest, Romania.
Talbot Consultants International Inc.
was retained by Textile Incaltaminte S.A. of Romania to conduct an analysis of two redundant factory sites (the Electrotehnica site & the UMEB site) in the heart of Sector 6 of Bucharest as to their potential for major shopping centre developments. Our preliminary site and trade area visits & analyses clearly showed that there was a significant opportunity for a major retail development at both locations that would serve the surrounding local population and beyond. We then conducted a detailed retail inventory and extensive consumer research into the Sector 6 population utilising door-to-door surveys to determine spending power, current retail shopping patterns and future preferences. Our analysis of these surveys clearly supported our initial recommendations. We were therefore tasked with selecting and retaining a qualified international retail architectural firm to prepare preliminary site and building plans and the conduct feasibility analyses on both sites.
Firstly it was our recommendation that there was potential for developing the Electrotehnica site into a two-level enclosed mall to be called the “Bucharesti Vest Centre” as a key component of a major retail/entertainment destination node for greater Bucharest by maximizing the linkages to the Plaza Romania (then under construction) & the proposed Cora Mall. Our recommendation was that the Electrotehnica site should be developed in two phases:-
1) The current demand is for the Electrotehnica site to be anchored by a major “chore” shopping food component such as a Wal-Mart Super Center, Carrefour, Tesco, Cora etc. serving the surrounding Sector 6 population.
2) As the economy evolves there will be a significant opportunity for a major “pleasure shopping” retail/entertainment destination serving greater Bucharest by maximizing the linkages to the adjacent Plaza Romania & Cora sites. This greater potential will be significantly enhanced once the new road connections & intersections are completed.
We therefore recommended that the Electrotehnica site should be designed so that it can easily transition from “chore” shopping to “pleasure” shopping without disrupting on-going operations. Secondly it was our opinion that the UMEB site should be developed, later, as a modern unenclosed “big-box” & “mid-box” centre to complement these three enclosed malls.
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