... it had been a while that I made my way to this interesting city at the far end of the Baltic Sea. I was mid May 2011.
The recession (2008-9) hit Russia as hard, probably harder than many other countries, but we don't hear too much about it. Many international companies down-sized in Russia and some left.
Most large (commercial) construction projects stopped across Russia - with the exception of Sochi. A few projects though were completed recently in St. Petersburg’s retail landscape - "Stockmann" and "Galeria" - just a stone throw apart.
I was the first architect on the project after it was restarted to help the initial clients to develop a new concept for this failed project linked to the hi-speed fiasco trying to link Moscow with St. Petersburg.

Stockmann unveiled their Russian flagship department store on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg opening the eyes of retailers to the hidden potential of the Russian market.

On Friday, November 12.2010, the largest department store of the Finnish retailer Stockmann opened in in Russia in St. Petersburg (20 000 square meters).

Russian economy expands by 4.2% in Jan.-June as recovery continues apace - MOSCOW -- Russian economic output expanded 4.2 percent in the January-June period as the country emerged from its biggest downturn in a decade, the government said Monday. [BN-Net Economy News]

We updated the directory for Malls, Shopping Centres, Retail Parks, etc. in Russia.

The listing now includes over 550 projects in Russia adding some 530 projects to the original list.

Reading through various specific news wires - or RSS feeds they are called today - you will quickly see that retail businesses in CEE are in a process of consolidation.

In the widest sense consolidation means some are going out of business. Some will merge, restructure, be sold or taken over. And a very important aspect of consolidation is shrinking.

... just after 4 months or so of opening their first store in Russia.

It is all over the news and all we can do here is discuss it a bit to gain some more insight of what is going on in Russia.

Not so long ago I was able to help with the design improvements on the Filion trade centre in Moscow. The improvements helped to attracted tenants like Carrefour back in 2007-8 when the centre was leased.