Turbulent debut

 The first customers were welcomed to the Manufaktura shopping and entertainment centre on May 16th in pouring rain and to the accompaniment of thunder and lightning. Maurice Bansay and Stephen Pragnell, together with other officials of Apsys, the project’s developer, remarked that pouring rain during important ceremonies bodes well for the future. But does Manufaktura really require a bit of luck, or are the prospects safe for the French company’s 9-year project?

It all began in the 1990s when Mieczysław Michalski, the manager of the Poltex factory (the erstwhile Israel Poznański textile mill) was looking for a company that might be interested in modernising the mill’s old post–industrial buildings. One of the people he wrote to was a certain Frenchman. It was in 1997 that Maurice Bansay, president of Apsys, discovered the charms of the industrial city of Łódź and recognised the inherent potential of the dilapidated textile empire situated in the city centre. Bansay found and convinced a number of financial partners to join this venture – including Paris Orleans with its Rothschild financing, as well as Fonciere Euris. Things did not go so smoothly with Łódź’s authorities, with mayor Jerzy Kropownicki stating firmly in his election campaign of 2002 that he opposes the development of hypermarkets and will refuse the French permission to invest. At the end of the day, however, the developer obtained a licence in June 2002 for a shopping mall and another one in March 2003 to redevelop the old historical buildings, allowing work to begin in October 2003. Even so, the authorities remained hostile.

The reason why the bad blood continued right up until the opening of Manufaktura, was that the city feared that without upgrading the transportation system, paralysis would occur. The council proposed that the developer repair the streets around the complex at its own expense. The French company’s reply to this was that all terms of the contracts with the city had been satisfied as regards infrastructural investments. The discussions continued as the opening date inexorably approached. Final agreement was reached only a few hours before the official ceremony, with the French side undertaking to redevelop ul. Drewnowska and install traffic lights at a total investment cost of around PLN 11 mln, while the city undertook to change the entitlement of perpetual usufruct of the land on which Manufaktura stands to that of ownership. But it was not only the investors and city authorities who are aware of the traffic complications. The tenants of the complex have also expressed concerns over the issue. Jan Wasilewski, the real estate manager of NFI Empik Media & Fashion, which has rented almost 6,000 sqm for 9 retail outlets including Empik, Smyk, Zara and Kosmeteria, feels that: “Manufaktura was opened in too great a hurry, which means that some work still has to be done. It is evident after the first days of business that customers are experiencing problems in getting to the centre. Bottlenecks exist in the approaches to car parks – which themselves are packed tight with customers’ vehicles. This is a regrettable state of affairs since Manufaktura could become a regional centre able to attract many from outside Łódź.”

The Apsys boss also seemed ecstatic when he showed off the licence he had received at the very last moment to open the complex – a feeling not shared by all the tenants, as not all of them had been given permission to operate.

Although the shopping section has now been opened, Manufaktura remains a large construction site. On top of this, the first wave of customers are complaining about insufficient parking facilities, closed retail outlets and the absence of museums and other attractions that had been promised. The hotel and conference facilities are also yet to be built – indeed it will take between 1.5 and 2 years to remove a derelict building with broken windows and put in its place a modern four-star hotel with around 200 rooms, as well as an office building for Warimpex, the Austrian developer. Eli Mazor, president of developers Plaza Centers Poland asserts that: “It was not worth postponing the opening of Manufaktura any longer. The investor and tenants are able to make a living at last, which is what they prefer doing. That certain things still require work and effort is of little importance.” Plaza Centers also planned to develop a shopping centre in Łódź, but is now having to amend the idea. Mazor thinks Manufaktura is a much more attractive project than its most serious competitor – the Galeria Łódzka mall.

Bartosz Puzdrowski, an ECE official, when asked during the opening ceremony for his opinion about Manufaktura and whether he fears a scrap between two shopping centres competing for the same customers, replied tersely: “They say competition is healthy and the opinion of specialists is that our centre will not suffer any great loss. The number of customers shopping at our mall may fall by between 10 and 12 pct. Manufaktura may harm smaller centres with an inferior composition of customers.”

Apsys has much to offer the citizens of Łódź in Manufaktura: a Geant hypermarket, a Leroy Merlin building materials store, as well as boutiques of major fashion retailers: KappAhl, Van Graff, Reserved. H&M, Smyk and C&A, also Go Sport and Sephora – with 200 retail outlets within the newly built mall. The restored buildings also house Electro World and a 15-screen Cinema City multiplex, with discos, a gym, bowling alleys etc. to come.

  at the King Sturge agency, believes that: “Manufaktura is definitely an interesting and original complex built with a grand flourish. But several unknowns have cropped up, e.g. how a restaurant so far from the main mall is going to operate – a fine idea perhaps, but partly dictated by the conditions since the developer had to fit into old existing buildings. Usually catering facilities attract customers, offering the possibility of a rest break followed by continued shopping. In this case, however, time will have to elapse before customers prove willing to use the restaurant section, especially in the winter, before getting on with their shopping.”

The 3-ha market square, which Apsys’ senior personnel proudly point out is second only in size to Kraków’s market square, is expected to attract more people to the complex.

 But isn’t it too large?