Shopping malls in Germany – small is beautiful
According to the EHI Retail Institute, the number of shopping malls in Germany grew by nine to 453 in 2012. The corresponding selling surface increased by roughly 275,000 square meters to a total of 14.2 million square meters. In the next 3-4 years, about 50 new malls are expected to be built, including seven this...
Three banks invest more in the Three Stripes
Adidas reports that three shareholders have surfaced from the limit of 5 percent where ownership of shares and corresponding voting rights have to be publicized. All of the three companies lifting their voting rights over the past few days are internationally operating banks. Frankfurt-based Commerzbank raised its voting rights to 7.90 percent yesterday. Before that,...
Dosenbach-Ochsner improves sales in a difficult Swiss market
Switzerland’s leading shoe and sporting goods retailer increased its total sales significantly in the last year with its Dosenbach, Ochsner Sport and Ochsner Shoes banners. The subsidiary of Deichmann, Europe’s largest shoe retail company, improved its total turnover from 893 million Swiss francs (€718.4 million) to CHF 915 million (€736.2 million). The significant increase is...
Amsterdam is the world’s bike-friendliest city, Copenhagenize says
Copenhagenize Design Co., a Danish consultancy firm, has released its latest “Copenhagenize Index of Bicycle Friendly Cities” for 2013. This year’s overall winner is Amsterdam, followed by Copenhagen, Utrecht and Seville. The competing cities were given points in 13 different categories including bicycle culture, facilities, infrastructure, bike share programmes, gender split, perception of safety, urban...
Study: Improved infrastructure for cyclists would lower greenhouse effect
German cyclists could do a lot more to help reduce CO2 emissions if local infrastructure would only encourage the use of cycles and e-bikes, notably in rural areas. This is one of the findings of a study compiled by the Dresden University of Technology on the “Potential of Cycling to Reduce Emissions in Road Transport”....
Australia: Prices for sporting goods have gone down… under
Sportslink, the Australian trade publication, reports that average prices for sporting goods and camping equipment in Australia decreased significantly by 16 percent over the past ten years. Shoes were 7 percent cheaper in 2012 than they were back in 2002, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The main reason behind the development has been...
Foot Locker acquires Runners Point
The U.S. retailer has announced that it is buying Runners Point, the German athletic footwear and apparel chain, for €72 million. The majority of shares in Runners Point are held by Hannover Finanz, a German private equity investor, while the remaining shares are owned by the chain’s senior management led by Otto Hurler and Harald...
ISPO BIKE hosts convention of bicycle engineers and designers
On July 25, Messe München will host the 4th international convention of bicycle developers under the roof of the ISPO BIKE trade show. The convention targets industry professionals to discuss the future of bicycle engineering and has three topics at the top of its agenda: e-bikes, ergonomics & convenience and testing. Ten experts are invited...
STMI adds Spain’s Forum Sport to its European retail network
Sports Trade & Marketing International (STMI), the pan-European buying group of sporting goods retailers, has a new member: Forum Sport. The Spanish chain is a subsidiary of Eroski, one of the country’s leading food retailers. Thanks to its new member, STMI will increase its total volume of turnover at retail prices by €125 million to about...
Bike Belong and REI support U.S. bike lane projects
Bike Belong, the U.S. non-profit organization devoted to the development of safety on bicycles and bike programs for children, has granted a total of $125,000 to five local non-governmental organizations that aim to set up bike lane networks in their respective cities or areas. Donations worth $25,000 each go to NGO’s in Austin, Chicago, Portland,...
