Melaka to get dose of new retail therapy

Freeport Retail, Europe’s leading developer and pioneering operator of Outlet Centres, is the latest to join the bandwagon to build a Freeport A’Famosa Outlet Village in Melaka to cater to the growing demand of shoppers seeking to own quality brand items at discounted prices. Its commercial director Chris Milliken, who sees Southeast Asia as a promising market for Outlet Centres, says: “With the increase in disposable income and growing levels of spending, there is a demand for quality top-brand items.” He describes an outlet centre as a place where international and domestic brands “run shops to sell their excess merchandise, end of season stock, and manufacturing over-runs at 30-70% discount of its normal retail price”. Considering such centres to be distinct and highly effective retail channels for brands to turn their unsold stock and sometimes made-for-outlet lines into cash, Milliken believes it is a real win-win situation for both the brands and Outlet Centres’ shoppers. Partnering with Langkah Realiti Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the A’Famosa Group, Freeport Retail recently announced its RM190 mil project, which will be developed in three phases with total net lettable area of 310,000 sq ft on 20-acre owned by Langkah Realiti. Phase one, scheduled to be opened in April 2015, will have 170,000 sq ft, phase two 62,000 sq ft and phase three 73,000 sq ft. Located adjacent to the A’Famosa Resort, which is owned by the A’Famosa Group, the construction of this Malaysian-British project will start in March 2014.