Cologne's Schildergasse remains Germany's top shopping street
The latest report from market researchers GfK for German bricks-and mortar-retail turnover suggests that this year's total turnover growth will rise by a nominal 0.8% to €411.3 billion. However, the study points to some notable regional differences among the leading retail locations.
As expected, the most populous cities – such as Berlin, Hamburg and Munich – top the lists for turnover. The top 10 defined retail markets, with together 14.47% of the German population, collectively make up 17.7% of the total bricks-and-mortar retail market turnover – a further concentration over last year's figures, according to GfK.
Based on this year's figures, the researchers conclude that already established retail markets are exerting even more pull on consumers within their catchment area. Although this is partly to be expected – given higher purchasing power, higher local tourism expenditure, and high centrality indices – GfK point out that the big cities' share of retail consumption could be even higher. That it does not, suggest the researchers, is frequently due to an oversupply of certain retail lines and market segments in a local market, constrained by a lack of suitable retail properties in that market for a more balanced mix.
In other words, too many of a certain type of retailer muscling in at the expense of a broader, more diversified offering in the prized inner-city locations.
Meanwhile, property advisor JLL has published its latest annual study of Germany's most frequented shopping streets. After being pipped for the top position last year, Cologne's Schildergasse is back at the top of the list, with an average of 16,835 pedestrians per hour on a good shopping day.
The widely-watched JLL study has appeared regularly since 1999, and tracks pedestrian footfall in the busiest 170 shopping streets in Germany.
Last year's winner, the Kaufinger Strasse in Munich, was demoted this year to fourth place (with 13,395 pedestrians per hour), behind the Neuhauser Strasse also in Munich (14,720) and Frankfurt's Zeil (14,250). The JLL researchers found that all of Germany's top five cities this year experienced footfall above their respective recentl 10-year averages.
According to Dirk Wichner, head of retail leasing at JLL Germany, the significant growth in footfall in the leading shopping streets of Germany cities is proof that consumers are viewing online shopping as complementary to their real-life shopping experience, and not as a substitute.
The role of gastronomy plays a considerable part in this, says Wichner, with shoppers combining buying with eating and socialising with friends or family. It is certainly one reason why Cologne's Schildergasse is a perpetual winner of these studies, given the huge range of bars and restaurants in its adjoining side streets, which not all shopping streets in the other big cities can claim.
The minimum threshold required for entry into this year's Top 10 was 9,000 pedestrians per hour on an average Saturday shopping day. While Munich has two streets in the Top 10, so also does Hanover, with its Georgstrasse (12,215) and its Bahnhofstrasse (9,585). Hamburg has just one street – the Mönckebergstrasse (9,715) – which ousted its rival the Spitalerstrasse for a place in the Top 10. Dortmund's Westhellenweg (9,475) re-entered the Top 10 after performing weakly last year, while the only street in Baden-Württemberg that makes it into the upper ranks was the Königstrasse in Stuttgart (8,890).
Among the Top 5 cities in the mid-sized city category (250,000 to 500,000 inhabitants), Wiesbaden's Kirchgasse was the best performer (8,730), followed by Bielefeld's Bahnhofstrasse (7,975 and overall 15th in the table), Karlsruhe's Kaiserstrasse (7,280 and 18th), Gelsenkirchen's Bahnhofstrasse (6,795 and 22nd) and Münster's Ludgeristrasse (6,525 and 24th).
Further down the rankings, among cities with 100,000 to 250,000 inhabitants, the leading shopping street is Saarbrücken's Bahnhofstrasse (6,580 and 23rd), Ulm's Hirschstrasse (6,050 and 30th), and Trier's Simeonstrasse (6,035). Making up the Top 5 in this smaller city category are the Leipziger Strasse in Halle an der Saale (6,030 and 33rd) and Heidelberg's Hauptstrasse (5,680 and 37th).
And in the category for even smaller cities (less than 100,000 inhabitants), the winner is Kaiserslautern's Fackelstrasse (5,620 and 38th), followed by Flensburg's Holm (4,530 and 62nd), Giessen's Seltersweg (3,780 and 77nd), the Kanzleistrasse in Konstanz (3,290 and 90th) and Rosenheim's Münchener Strasse (3,090 and 93rd).
The JLL researchers also include a category among the 170 streets surveyed for quality versus quantity, or in other words, the top luxury shopping streets. The undisputed leader here (as every year) is Düsseldorf's Königsallee (4,870 and 56th), followed by the Neue Wall in Hamburg (3,020 and 97th) and Frankfurt's Goethestrasse (2,500 and rising 50 places to 116). Then come Munich's (Maximilianstrasse (1,830 and 147) and Stuttgart's Stiftstrasse (a big loser at 850 and 167th place).
Munich and Berlin have the highest density of highly-frequented shopping streets, with more than 5,000 hourly pedestrians. Munich has five (Neuhauser Straße, Kaufingerstraße, Tal, Weinstraße and Sendlinger Straße) while Berlin has four (Tauentzienstraße, Kurfürstendamm, die Schlossstraße and Alexanderplatz). In North Rhine Westphalia twelve separate cities meet this threshold.
(REFIRE received a further study by BNP Paribas Real Estate last week, which produces its own study on the most frequented shopping streets. This study comes to the same general conclusions as the JLL study, with the main difference being that they rank the Kaufinger Strasse in Munich at the top of their list.)