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Nov 17, 2014
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Mapic: the leading event for developers and retailers is on this week

Published
Nov 17, 2014

Twenty years! It has been twenty years since Reed Midem launched the international retail property trade fair, more commonly known under its abbreviation, Mapic, in Cannes. Obviously organisers of the trade fair knew, via the Mipim, its other major property trade fair, that commercial property sales were in want of a specific event. Developers and retailers needed, of course, to be convinced but the period was (still) prosperous and, in terms of France, was a period of inaugurations and projects in the numbers.

Mapic is an important event for exchanges between professionals both day and night at the big hotels along Cannes' famous La Croisette | Photo: Mapic


When it comes to France, the country has seen better days. In addition to the conflict between Procos, France's leading specialised retailers’ federation, and the National Council of French Shopping Centres, it is obvious that the crisis, the change in spending habits, with the increase in e-commerce, and most simply, why not just say it, the increase in commercial wasteland, has changed the way projects are conceived and carried out. Chris Igwe Senior Director European Retail Leasing/ Head of Retail France at CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), last year in his own way said what could be translated as “We have to calm down”!
 
However, the organiser of Mapic has long understood this. Maybe even since the beginning. The event was created to be international and it really is.

Judge for yourself: This year’s edition will include 8,300 participants from 67 countries. Among them, 2,400 retail developers and 2,300 property developers. There will be 685 exhibiting companies. 90 cities and public players will be represented in Cannes, as well as 334 investment companies. English is the most spoken language in the Palais des Festivals. Compared to, for example, the retail and commercial property trade fair (Siec), held in Paris, which holds the National Council of French Shopping Centres (CNCC) in June.
 
For this session, Mapic has thus chosen, “to mark the transition between the past and the future,” to focus on China and the United States. For its 20th anniversary, Mapic will take a look at the geographic developments over the last few years by highlighting two commercial property giants, the United States and China,” explained Nathalie Depetro, Director of the trade fair. “Part of Mapic since the beginning, the United States has been both a precursor and a leader in commercial property and distribution for decades, and experts are predicting great opportunities there in the coming years. China, a more recent member of Mapic, is developing at an exponential rate. It is notably being talked about this year with the rise in e-commerce and the spike in shopping malls with Chinese developers.”

“Offering increasingly innovative projects, the United States is planning on creating 758 new shopping malls by 2016, according to the Global Shopping Center Development Report by Cushman & Wakefield published last spring,” the trade fair also reveals.

Thus, developer American Management will unveil its American Dream project for the first time at Mapic. Announced as the biggest shopping mall in the world, with a surface area of 7,750,000 sq², this site should receive 40 million visitors per year. Located about 25 miles from Manhattan, this Mecca of retailtainment, a mix of retail and entertainment, will have a ski hill, a skating rink, a movie theatre, a Lego amusement park and no less than 400 stores and restaurants.

Mapic will also be hosting other major American developers, such as General Growth Properties Inc., Thor Equities, ESRI and Vornado Realty Trust.

The other retail property giant in the market, China, will be represented at Mapic 2014 by two players in this industry: Wanda group, the leader in the sector in China – it is planning on opening 110 Wanda Plazas in China by the end of 2014 – and Jihua group, which is anticipating European retail chains with a large portfolio of valued shopping and leisure sites.

The trade fair’s internationalisation is also evident among the newly announced brands, such as, for clothing, Turkish label Damat, American label Beverly Hills Polo Club, Canadian label Lululemon, Swede label Lindex, etc.

Once again, and it is one of the major specifics of Reed events, the trade fair aims to be a place of thought and discussions via a vast programme of conferences. One of the topics, for example, will be the store of the future, in the eyes of retailers and developers. Others include China and the United States’ focuses, and the Mapic Digital Summit report, which has been published the night before the trade fair for several years now, which this year means 18 November. It is also a way for Mapic to show interest in one of the major news items of the period.
 
The cherry on top, since the beginning of Mapic, Reed Midem has planned the announcement of a new property trade fair… Mum is still the word but the 19th is really just hours away now!
 

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