Big Shopping Centers (TASE: BIG) opens Israel's biggest shopping mall on Thursday - BIG Fashion Glilot. Spread over 44 dunam (11 acres) with 43,000 square meters of commercial space and 169,000 square meters of parking and services space, alongside a 43-floor office tower with 75,000 square meters of office space and 4,000 parking spaces, NIS 2 billion was invested in construction of the complex.
BIG Fashion Glilot strip mall is in Ramat Hasharon's new office park, adjacent to Cinema City Glilot. Over the past year, work has been undertaken on development of the area, including access roads from Roads 2, 5 and 20, as well as environmental development, which also includes a nearby railway station..
BIG Fashion Glilot is designed as two parallel urban streets parallel with three central squares connecting them, including well-known cafes and restaurants. The second floor includes an avenue of designer stores and a roof garden with a children's activity center.
Over 160 flagship stores of international and Israeli brands will operate in the mall. Like most malls and shopping centers in Israel, BIG Glilot will also have a very strong presence of the major fashion groups. Zara Group will open the brand's largest store in Israel, which will be spread over 4,800 square meters, and will be joined by its other brands, including the first OYSHO store in Israel. Fox will open 16 stores of the brands it operates, encompassing 6,000 square meters: Boardriders, Minene, Foot Locker, Fox, Fox Home, Ruby Bay, American Eagle + Aerie, Mango, Flying Tiger, Yanga, Nike, Shilev, Laline, Sunglass Hut, Converse, Saks and Itay Brands.
Irani Group's Factory 54 will open 12 new stores, a beauty concept and a Factory 54 cafe, covering 4,500 square meters, at an investment of NIS 65 million. On one of the streets, a Factory 54 store will open for women and men, flagship stores for international brands: Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo, Ralph Lauren, Boss, Lacoste, Diesel, Lululemon, and a 350 square meter flagship The North Face store. Additional stores are expected to open in the complex during March, including Factory 54 Beauty and a new branch of the Factory 54 Cafe cafe chain, and later a flagship store for the BALR brand will open for the first time.
Renuar is opening a 1,000 square meter fashion store on two levels at an investment of NIS 10 million and there will be Electra, Adidas and Columbia stores.
Not just fashion
BIG understands that not only fashion will be able to attract the crowds of customers it awaits, and they also positioned the mall as a dining center. There are over 5,000 square meters of restaurants, including Shake Shack, Aharoni's Fried Chicken, Meatbar Burger, Mount Sinai Pizza, Grand Café Turquoise, Giraffe and Capri, alongside other well-known coffee chains and bars. Perhaps inspired by Dizengoff Center, unique businesses that are not usually seen in commercial complexes will also stand out, such as Eliav Uzan's tattoo studio.
BIG Shopping Centers CEO Hay Galis describes BIG Fashion Glilot is a game changer in Israel. He says, "This is our biggest project and on a huge scale, unlike any other in Israel. We are bringing a complex, the like of which has not been built in Israel for many years, with a mix of fashion, leisure, and culinary outlets with all the strongest fashion brands in Israel and abroad, a unique mix of restaurants, many parking spaces, and a fantastic level of accessibility - all of which make it one of the biggest investments in an entertainment and leisure location built here to date, which will provide one of the leading shopping and entertainment experiences in Israel."
He continues, "This is the first time that BIG, which has been considered a peripheral company, has reached the heart of the country and the heart of Gush Dan. This is a very important and exciting step. In the last five months, we have done something that no other company in the world has done, and we have opened seven new major projects - five new propjects and two expansions of existing centers - Beersheva, Carmi Gat, Ashdod, Or Akiva, Migdal Ha'Emek, Gedera and Glilot.
"There is development in every field, including phones, cars, televisions and computers. It is fine for there to be development in shopping centers as well. And most of the shopping centers that we compete with are 20-25-30 years old. They are not the size that is needed today, they do not look like the customer experience that needs to be provided today, and we are creating a natural evolution of a new generation that has come along to compete with the old generation. We are creating the new generation and the burden of proof is on us, and we have also done it in other centers that we have opened.
"We are also growing significantly in Europe, in Serbia and Poland, where we have become significant players. We will continue and open in Israel. There is our huge project in Petah Tikva, where 60% of the project was leased within five weeks, because all the tenants understood that we are creating the new generation of centers that will prevail. In Petah Tikva, there will be 65,000 square meters, 1.5 times the size of Glilot." "Five years have passed since we started building the place with an investment of more than 2.5 billion shekels, during which we went through a difficult period of lack of activity and war, and we snatched everything that was possible along the way, but today we are here."
Open on Shabbat
Galis cited accessibility and the number of parking spaces as major advantages of the mall. He added that BIG's revenue per square meter proves that the public does not mind open strip malls. "We are not a box with air conditioning, but something more ventilated, and the public comes and buys. BIG Nazareth, for example, is one of the four shopping centers with the highest revenue in Israel," he says.
Regarding trading on Shabbat, he observes, "There are shopping centers open on Shabbat all over the country, the Seven Stars in our neighborhood has been open on Shabbat for 20 years and is packed. As always in the BIG Group, if the mall is not located adjacent to residential areas or part of a city with a traditional character, such as Or Akiva, the mall provides services and is open to those who choose to open. Customers who choose to leave their homes on Shabbat and come will enjoy themselves here.
The mall needs to bring in about half a million people a month, even a little more, in order for it to be a center that generates sufficient revenue to serve the business side of the project, such as rent. We are expecting an NOI of NIS 236 million, including the offices and the parking lot. Tenants know that they can count on us and if the revenue is not sufficient, we will help them. We believe that the area will do a very good commercial job. They wrote that it is half the rent of Ramat Aviv. Great, so we have a chance at upside."
BIG was founded in 1994 by Yehuda Naftali with a vision of introducing US style strip malls to Israel - a field it continues to lead today. BIG currently operates 56 shopping centers, 35 office buildings, 16 residential projects, six mixed-use projects, and seven logistics centers. Twelve new centers are currently in various stages of construction.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 26, 2025.
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