Average-sized entrepreneurs seek the interior
Valor Econômico
Average-sized entrepreneurs of the real estate market, like Sá Cavalcante and Partage, invest in shopping malls outside the big capitals. The projects have been migrating to large- and average-sized cities of the metropolitan areas or the interior. It is not an isolated movement. According to the Brazilian Association of Shopping Centers (Abrasce), two thirds of the 42 inaugurations scheduled for 2010 and 2011 are outside the capitals. There are 26 undertakings that cater to cities of varied profiles, from São Caetano do Sul, to Campos dos Goytacazes, in Northern Rio de Janeiro, up to Sete Lagoas (Minas Gerais) and Pindamonhangaba (SP). For medium-sized entrepreneurs, it is a way of taking advantage of the growth of the income in different regions and, at the same time, remaining competitive in relation to the great players fighting for the few spaces available in the largest Brazilian capitals.
Partage, owned by the Baptista family, one of the shareholders of the Aché laboratory, is investing nearly R$ 700 million (US$ 389 million) in five undertakings until 2015. The first will be opened in November in São Gonçalo, in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro. The other two will be launched in the interior of São Paulo and in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte. The entrepreneur complains about the main difficulty faced by shopping mall entrepreneurs: finding large areas. "In the capitals it is becoming harder and harder, especially for those who intend to build horizontal shopping malls", says Baptista. Partage created a second company, Affinitá, to carry out the management of the new malls.
SC2, owned by the Sá Cavalcante group, owner of Shopping Tijuca and Praia da Costa, in Rio and in Vila Velha, respectively, now aims at the city of Pelotas (RS). In the mall in Rio Grande do Sul and in another undertaking that will be built in the Northeast of the country, Sá Cavalcante is investing R$ 460 million (US$ 256 million). "There are areas still available for large shopping malls in the capitals of the Northeast", says Leonardo Cavalcante, Director of SC2. The company is building another two in São Luis (MA) and in Serra (ES), while two shopping malls are under development (Guarulhos and Cariacica-ES).
"The expansion of the shopping malls towards the interior and metropolitan regions has been intensified because of the better income distribution", says consultant Eugênio Foganholo. Sérgio Molina, Director of DMV, an agency specialized in shopping malls, agrees with him. The leaders of the sector make part of such movement. Of the six undertakings that will be released in the next three years by BR Malls with investments of nearly R$ 1 billion (US$ 556 million), three are outside the capitals.