OREANDA-NEWS In the first quarter of 2026, the downward trend in attendance at medium-sized and large Russian shopping malls continued. This is reported by Kommersant with reference to data from Focus Technologies.

During the reporting period, the average daily shopping mall traffic in Russia fell by 2 percent year-on-year. We are talking about the indicator of shopping centers with an area of 20 thousand square meters, analysts said. Compared to the pre-crisis value (before the COVID-19 pandemic), the achieved result was 25 percent lower. The dynamics was confirmed by Zulfiya Shilyaeva, head of the CMWP Retail Real Estate department.

NF Group cited a decrease in the purchasing power of a significant part of the population as the main reason for the cooling of Russians' demand for shopping malls. Against the background of slowing wage growth and high inflation, the average consumer began to behave more cautiously. Spontaneous and emotional purchases in this situation gradually began to fade into the background, said Evgenia Khakberdieva, Director of the Retail real Estate Department at NF Group.

Earlier, Bulat Shakirov, president of the Union of Shopping Centers (UTS), predicted the imminent decline of the shopping center era in Russia. The expert believes that leisure and entertainment centers will replace such points in the medium term. Traditional shopping malls are unlikely to be able to withstand the increasing competition from marketplaces.