Modernization and construction of modern-format shopping centers will be completed by the end of 2018 in the markets ‘Ainabulak’, ‘Karkara’, ‘Mehrinis’ and ‘Alatau’ (4th block). The total investment in construction exceeds 7 billion tenge. In addition, the look of the ‘Bahar’, ‘Umit’, ‘Kenjehan-2’, ‘Tastak’, ‘Yallyan’, ‘Altai’ and ‘Rahat’ markets will change significantly in the near future.
Bringing objects of trade to international standards is in accordance with the concept of the Almaty Master Plan, which takes into account the development of the urban environment.
«We see an example of Panfilov's pedestrian street: how trade, commerce, including the sale of souvenirs are developing there now. We see that these are completely new approaches to the organization of retail space. They are significantly different from the approaches used by shopping malls today. Recent research shows that people are less and less going to shopping malls for shopping, and more for entertainment. One of the myths that we wanted to either refute or confirm at this roundtable meeting- whether the shopping mall should be reclassified only as entertainment, educational centers, taking into account the increasing volume of e-commerce» - reported on the impact of trends in the trade and logistics sector on the urban environment, the chairman of the board of the «Almaty City Development Center» Zhanna Tulegenova.
Participants of the event noted that with the development of the online sales and cross-border trade market with China and Kyrgyzstan, Almaty is losing its position as a single distribution center in the region.
Nevertheless, the southern capital remains the main center of trade in the country - 27.9% or 2.5 trillion tenge (1st place by the share of retail trade in the national indicator). Today, the city has more than 20,000 wholesale and retail businesses, 128 shopping malls and trading houses, 29 commercial networks, including 13 food and 16 non-food destinations. Over the past 3 years, 16 large trading facilities have been opened with investments of more than 100 billion tenge and the creation of about 20,000 workplaces.
