Lisbon - June 4th 2010
Three Sierra centres nominated at the Hipersuper Awards
Centro Colombo wins in the "Best Shopping Centre" category
Centro Colombo, the largest Sonae Sierra Shopping Centre in Portugal has won the award for "Best Shopping Centre" at the Hipersuper Awards 2010. The eight nominees for the award also included two other Sonae Sierra centres - Centro Vasco da Gama and NorteShopping -, both of them shopping and leisure references in their catchment area for their dynamism, variety and quality.
Centro Colombo is an icon in the shopping and leisure centre industry, both national and internationally. Since its inauguration, in 1997, it represents a modern shopping and leisure destination, with a unique variety provided by the more than 400 shops, a revolution in terms of consumption in Portugal. This centre is a dynamic and reference venue, the first choice for the biggest national and international brands for the hosting of large events. Factors such as the retail offer and the extended access network have made Centro Colombo a leader in its business area, worthy of the preference of about 27 million annual visitors (nearly three times the total of the Portuguese population).
That leadership is also reinforced by its dynamism and aptitude for commercial renovation and to set trends in the sector, by presenting about 30 new shops every year, so as to meet continuously the needs of all visitors.
With the objective of making Centro Colombo an increasingly more modern and comfortable venue, offering an unique shopping and leisure centre experience to its visitors, Sonae Sierra has invested, in 2009, 27 million euros in its refurbishment. Some of the changes implemented were the construction of an original outdoor garden, which involved the remodelling of the area outside the Funcenter, the renovation and capacity increase of the food court and the parking lot.
As proof of its quality, throughout its existence Centro Colombo has earned national and international distinctions in different areas, and is one of the most awarded centres in the sector. Of the numerous distinctions, we highlight the several "Best Shopping Centre" awards, and the different awards from reference entities in the marketing, design and community relations areas.
The group of nominees for the "Best Shopping Centre" category was chosen by the newsroom of the Hipersuper newspaper with the support of consultants Kantar Worldpanel, GfK and Cushman&Wakefield, based on the following criteria: marketing- mix, number of visitors (total or per ABL), occupancy rate, energetic efficiency, sales per m2 and customer services.
The voting was reserved for subscribers of the newspaper and its website.
About Sonae Sierra
Sonae Sierra, www.sonaesierra.com , is an international shopping centre specialist, with a passion for bringing innovation and excitement to the shopping centre industry. The Company owns 52 Shopping Centres in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, Romania and Brazil, with a total Gross Lettable Area (GLA) of more than 2 million m2. Currently, Sonae Sierra has 2 projects under construction and 9 new projects in different phases of completion in Portugal, Italy, Germany, Greece, Romania and Brazil. In 2009 our Shopping Centres had more than 436 million visits.