Shopping center giants Klépierre and URW reopen around the world

URW "announces today that 65 of its 90 centers worldwide are now reopened following the lifting of a series of restrictions related to Covid-19", detailed in a press release the group, which owns, among other things, the Forum des Halles and the center of Part-Dieu.

Many countries have taken strict containment measures since the start of the year to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, most often forcing shopping centers to close outright.

In France, for example, the confinement lasted from mid-March to early May and, even with its lifting, the prefects retained the possibility of prohibiting the reopening of the largest centers.

But now most of the French centers have reopened for URW and its major competitor, Klépierre, which for example owns Créteil-Soleil in the Paris suburbs.

"Klépierre has reopened all of its shopping centers in France", announced the group during the weekend.

For the two groups, the situation is not limited to France, however, as they are present across Europe, as well as in the United States for URW.

This situation is more favorable to Klépierre than to URW, which is still awaiting deconfinement measures in certain American states.

While the first promises to reopen all of its European centers by the weekend, the second only counts on the reopening of 87% of all of its sites by June 15.

"This figure is expected to increase after confirmation in the United States of the end of restrictions in other states and counties", says URW, evoking more than expected return from customers in its centers that have reopened around the world.

After these announcements, the shares of Klépierre and URW, which had collapsed during the crisis, jumped on the stock market on Tuesday, each taking more than 10%.