Koru Florya AVM opened with over 220 brands, is a new mall worth a store lease?

Both, and you can’t know the ratio in advance. Someone off the metrobus might pass through, sit at Starbucks, or buy groceries at Macro Center and leave. Let’s say your shop sits near the metrobus entrance: plenty of eye contact, few people stopping. Judge a location by shopping intent, not by pedestrian flow.

They help if you sell a neighbouring category. An accessories shop next to Boyner or LC Waikiki can share that traffic. Sell the same product at a higher price and the customer turns around at your door. Study the tenant mix with two questions: who brings my customer, and who takes my customer away?

The mall has a free children’s play area and a year-round programme of live music, performances, food events, children’s workshops, talks and a design market (Perakende.org). That keeps families in longer at weekends, which can fill baskets at cafes, toy shops and children’s clothing. Sell a technical product, and event day may be crowded while your till stays quiet.

Only an anchor. The Istanbul figure blends established malls, high-turnover categories and large chains. Now let me ask you one thing: how much do you sell today, in your category, per square metre of your own floor? Without that number, a new mall decision is an estimate stacked on another estimate.

The AYD–Akademetre mall turnover index rose 22.9% year on year in nominal terms in August 2026 and shrank 6.5% in real terms (AYD–Akademetre, August 2026). Price tags grow faster than the number of items sold. If your lease rises with inflation, sales growth may not cover it: stock sits on the shelf, the rent invoice arrives every month.

Take gross profit and subtract staff, energy and stock financing. What remains is the most you can pay in rent and service charges. Divide it by estimated sales to get your occupancy cost threshold, and if the offer exceeds it, negotiate or walk away. The formula fits every category; you supply the numbers.

As a tenant, you deal every day with the operator, not the developer: service charges, marketing contributions and the events calendar all come from that desk. We look at how a change of management affects tenants in our piece on the new management at Anatolium Marmara mall. Before you sign, sit down face to face with that person at least once.

The news does not say how many of the “more than 220 brands” were trading on opening day. Here’s something I’ve noticed: people walk a corridor of empty windows far less than a full one. Ask for the occupancy plan of your own corridor.

Turkish malls fall under Law No. 6585 and the Regulation on Shopping Centres published in the Official Gazette on 26 February 2016. You can see the general framework on the Turkish Ministry of Trade’s shopping centres page. Verify with the official source; this is not legal or financial advice.

The week you sign. Enter the floor name (Cadde, Podyum or Koru), unit number, hours and photos. When a shopper inside the mall looks you up on their phone, the right floor is half the sale.

Copy the mall’s music, workshop and design market days into your content calendar, and announce a day ahead what people can try in your store. That steers part of the mall’s traffic to your door. The system I suggest: one in-store offer and one social post per event.

Each week, put four numbers side by side: profile views, direction requests, store visits and till transactions. If the first two rise and the last two stand still, the problem is your window or product. If all four are low, it is visibility.

Twelve months of sales by category, your current rent and service charge breakdown, and your rent-to-sales threshold. If you plan to widen your range for the new mall, our piece on Yeni İnci’s move into socks will help you weigh that step. A tenant who sits down with numbers negotiates with numbers.

With your accountant and store manager, on one page: monthly sales, rent, service charge and what is left in a good, middle and bad scenario. If you still stand in the bad one, go ahead. We build this calculation, covering location, rent and digital visibility together, with business owners as part of our digital consulting work. We comment on other retail news on our retail page.

The news does not name the mall’s operator or leasing management. Confirm the application channel at the mall’s information desk or through its official contact channels.

Sales can swing until occupancy and shopping habits settle. That is why you should start the rent calculation from the worst case and discuss first-period terms in the lease.

It can, but it needs to stand out through product, service and location, not price. Avoid units where the anchor brand is a competitor that takes your customer away.