Mall of Switzerland grapples with ghost passages

Instead of Wheel of Fortune, Entli fishing and mega fireworks, children’s crafts, like artists, at the opening exactly five years ago. The anniversary of the Mall of Switzerland at Ebikon LU was modest on Saturday. According to a report in the newspaper “Neue Luzerner Zeitung”, the shopping center is registering more and more empty spaces. On the floors of Mall 1 and 2, the two shopping streets have almost turned into “ghost passages”. Mall 3: on the top floor is empty.

The newspaper did a five-year comparison of floor plans and there it was. Of the 125 existing shop and restaurant spaces, about 40 are currently vacant – double what they were in 2017. Tenants have replaced more than half of the buildings to date.

There seems to be no threat of a piece script

The following moved: Swarovski, Starbucks and Adidas. The mall is still in the hands of the main tenants such as Migros, C&A and Müller-Drogerie. According to the operators, Migros is in very good condition, but Migros restaurant was closed due to lack of guests.

According to experts who do not want to cite, the mall is in the wrong place and came to the market too late. “The Mall of Switzerland was a difficult project from the start,” said Stefan Nertinger, 38, Professor of Strategic Management at the Ostschweizer Fachhochschule (OST) in May 2022. There are “frequent changes that are definitely above average”.

There is still no threat of a piecemeal script. The people of Basel had to drastically downsize their shopping malls in 2017 after customers stayed away. “There is always change in retail. Closings and new openings are part of that,” says the mall operators about the vacancy, the “Neue Luzerner Zeitung” writes.

It is not known what the owners of the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mall of Switzerland said. (euro)