A woman can only take so much… after being decapitated, pawed over and drawn on, Copenhagen’s famous Little Mermaid statue is set to be moved further out to sea and out of the reach of drunken students and over-enthusiastic tourists. Perhaps this is a sad sign that nothing is sacred, but the Danes don’t think like that – they see it as a way of protecting something that is truly Danish.
This is a mentality that stretches beyond their beloved statue and into the realms of everyday life – the retail sector being one, as some truly British names have found. Walking along the 2.3km of a rain-sodden Strøget, Copenhagen’s main retail thoroughfare, there are few classic British names to be seen, and not a Tesco in sight across the whole of Denmark. Danish and Scandinavian names – such as Pilgrim, Claire.dk and H&M – dominate.
In fairness, this is not the result of a dislike for British brands; there are numerous other reasons. The Danish retail market is extremely mature, with a strong economy that has seen retail sales grow by 4.7% year-on-year from 2004. Development is also being held back because of extremely tight planning restrictions, especially in the shopping centre market.
During the mid-1990s, a cap was put on the size of out-of-town developments in order to protect the high street. This made it very difficult to get permission for developments bigger than 3,000m2 (32,300 sq ft). And it is clearly a policy that is working, as high street spend in Copenhagen rose by 15% during 2005.
Meanwhile, figures from Cushman & Wakefield for the first quarter of 2006 show that there is only a 1.2% vacancy rate in Copenhagen and 1.8% nationally. As a result, there is little space for Danish brands to grow, never mind the international names looking to break into the sector.
But developers have persevered and, by claiming there was a real need for larger regional buildings, managed to get two large shopping centres through planning. The 67,000m2 (720,000 sq ft) Fields, on the edge of Copenhagen, near the airport, opened in 2004. It is the country’s first super-regional centre and is attracting both Danish and Swedish business. “There were fears it would take shoppers from Copenhagen city centre but, as the increase in the high street retail figures show, that hasn’t happened,” says Mikael Glud, director with CB Richard Ellis Cederholm.
The other development is A/S Keop’s 30,000m2 (323,000 sq ft) Ro’s Torv in Roskilde, near Copenhagen. The centre is a classic example of what is happening in the shopping centre market. With a lack of new developments, attention is on extensions and refurbishments.
“We are seeing more elements being incorporated specifically to entertain customers, such as food courts, bars and cinemas,” says Keld Abildgaard, head of agency at DTZ Denmark.
There has already been an extension at the Rødovre Store Centre in Greater Copenhagen, and Ro’s Torv, opened in 2003, is also getting a major facelift.
Another A/S Keops development, Galleri K, is something of a rarity. Nestled between Strøget and Antonigade and Pilestraede, adjacent streets just off the prime pitch, it is unusual in that it is a new development on Copenhagen’s prime pitch – a location that rarely sees expansions or new builds.
A 10,000m2 (107,000 sq ft) joint venture with AIG, it is littered with Scandinavian brands (H&M occupies a 2,100m2 shop there), while the 19 other units in what was once a supermarket will be occupied mainly by Danish names.
The desire – in fact, near-desperation – for retailers to get space on Strøget has lead to the streets nearby, such as Kronprinsensgade, and Elmegade on Nørrebro, to evolve into retail areas.
With continuing steady growth predicted for the retail market, more shoppers and tourists are doubtless going to be attracted to Copenhagen. That’s fine, so long as they keep their hands to themselves – no-one wants the poor Little Mermaid to end up across the Öresund in Sweden.
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The Danes may not like exporting their beer, if the TV ads are to be believed. But they have no such qualms about their retail brands, which are practically flowing out of the country. Jack & Jones and Vero Moda, both parts of the Bestseller group, and Ecco have all made a big impact on the UK retail market. Newcomers looking to break in, or expand, include furniture retailer Ilver, Day Birger et Mikkelsen, J Lindeberg, jeweller Pilgrim – which has a concession at Harrods but is looking for more concessions and standalone stores of around 800 sq ft in major UK high streets – and Bertoni. The last-named men’s fashion store has just opened in Dundrum, the shopping centre on the edge of Dublin. Aisling Cullen, retail fashion adviser for Lunson Mitchenall, says that Danish stores are popular in the UK because “designers from Denmark, and indeed the Scandinavian countries, design clothes for the northern figure, which are more adaptable to the British public”. She explains that while France is a bit more chic and Italy a bit more sexy, the Nordic style is more bohemian, which means groups such as Inwear Matineque and Bestseller are going to grow and grow in countries like the UK.
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