Each year new shopping centers are opened in the country, mostly by foreign investors. Several new grandiose shopping malls are under construction, and there are announcements for new ones, especially in suburban municipalities in the newly opened locations in economic zones.
The newspaper Vecer wrote that many skeptics wonder whether the opening of new shopping centers can be justified, when the purchasing power of the Macedonian population is not large. If we look the attendance according to the shopping centers, we can say that these objects are attractive places because during the weekends, or while having a promotion, major shopping malls have 20,000 registered visitors in a day, a figure that itself explains the trend of opening of shopping centers in Skopje.
- But, according to experts, the opening of large shopping centers means direct foreign investment in the country that generates new jobs, salaries and benefits of employees and the standard of the population grows. Furthermore domestic production encouragement, because large proportion of the products sold in major supermarkets brings a dimension of positive development. Economists believe that shopping centers have many famous fashion brands that attract buyers from neighboring countries, and that means entry of fresh foreign currencies at the exchange market, Vecer writes.
- Many citizens of neighboring countries before went to Thessaloniki and Sofia or Belgrade to buy branded garment. It is now closerto them, and they can buy it in our malls. On the other hand, many countries in the world see great potential for economic growth in malls, because a significant percentage of the gross domestic product of these countries is created in the shopping malls. The Philippines, for example, a fifth of the jobs are in malls, and they realize 15 % of the GDP of that country,- economists comment that investing in shopping centers means activation of the construction industry and related sectors.
