Shopping remains one of Germany’s favourite pastimes. We have worked in this market for 39 years and catalogued all relevant prime 1A shopping streets. Much has changed, from the boom in shopping centres to the correction brought by online retail. Now the market is stabilising: chains are expanding again and good locations are back in play. To spot opportunities, you need to read the market objectively. That is where we can help.

Shopping is one of Germany’s most popular leisure activities, and digitalisation has not changed that. We began letting stores in prime 1A locations 39 years ago. Back then we had no digital tools—just tape measures, notepads and plenty of patience. We measured and catalogued every relevant shopping street in Germany. After reunification in 1989, we covered eastern Germany in just six months.

That work paid off. For many years, income from letting stores in prime 1A locations supported the company. But markets never stand still. Then came the large shopping centres. Almost every major city wanted one, hoping to draw shoppers from neighbouring towns. The reality was that those neighbouring towns built centres too. Eventually, city centres, pedestrian zones and shopping centres competed with one another. Too much retail space had been created, with too little underlying demand. We still feel the effects today.

As if that were not enough, online retail arrived: fast and convenient, but tough on many physical retailers. Was that the end of the pedestrian high street? No. The market has reshaped itself.

Rents and commercial property prices have fallen. That may sound dramatic, but above all it represents a healthy market floor. At this level, solid deals are possible again. We see this in the sharp rise in transactions in prime 1A locations and in the growing number of chains expanding again and using the opportunity to optimise their locations.

One thing remains: seeing, touching and trying products. That can only happen in a store—and it is an experience the digital world cannot replace.

We would be glad to assist, whether you are letting a store or buying or selling a commercial building in a prime 1A location.