World fashion brands in Indjija from next autumn - Fashion House opens first outlet center in Serbia

The first outlet center in Serbia, where 125 outlets with world and domestic fashion brands will be situated at 30,000 square meters, will open its door to customers in autumn 2011. The complex in Indjija, in which Fashion House and Black Oak are going to invest 100 million euros, will also comprise a business center, a hotel, a fun park, as well as the facilities of large world-renowned market chains.

The buyers at Fashion House Outlet Center in Indjija will be able to find the goods whose prices are 30 to 70% lower, while the visitors will also have at their disposal numerous coffee shops and restaurants, a playground for kids and over 2,000 parking places.

The construction of the center starts next week. Djura Stanic, the Chairman of the Managing Board of Black Oak, told eKapija that the outlet center would be occupying the surface area of 15,000 square meters upon the completion of the first phase of works.

- We have already signed agreements with many brands. Some of them are Replay, Miss Sixty, Nike, Timberland, Tommy Hilfiger. We also expect to establish a cooperation with domestic brands that can improve the offer of Outlet Center. Some of the trademarks will appear in our market for the first time, while special interest has been expressed by those companies that already have their stores in European Fashion House Outlet centers – says Stanic.

Energogroup is entrusted with the construction of the outlet center, while the project is modeled after the other Fashion House centers. The outlet center with the accompanying facilities will employ 1,000 people.

Brendon O’Reilly from Fashion House company presented today at Hyatt hotel the concept of the operations of outlet centers in the world, which were formed in the 1970's.

- When compared to shopping centers, outlet center are smaller in size, they are usually situated in suburbs and the goods in them are sold at discounted prices during the whole year. Customers go to a shopping center to purchase what they need and only 30% of them actually buy something, while 70-100% of visitors in outlet centers always purchase something and come there to spend their leisure time – said O’Reilly.

He pointed out that many brands in Serbia had excess unsold goods, but they didn't have strategies for the management of stocks so that Outlet Center in Indjija was an ideal opportunity for controlling and maintaining the level of famous brands in the market.

- Serbia still does not have a real outlet center, and there is a potential for several facilities of the kind when we have in mind the number of citizens, the awareness of brands and the purchasing power. Fashion House has estimated that Indjija, that is, the area alongside E75 highway, is the best location for a contemporary outlet center because it is only 30 minutes of driving away from Belgrade and Novi Sad and such location "covers" 2.8m citizens – O’Reilly explained.