Retailers here not unduly concerned about impact on business

As previously only peripherally mentioned, the second-largest shopping centre in the country, the Mall of Switzerland, opened in Ebikon in the canton of Lucerne yesterday.
 
As the 65,000 square-metre centre is easily accessible by both car and public transport from Zug, might it have a negative impact on shops here?
 
When asked about this, André Odermatt, the chairman of the Pro Zug Association, which represents many retail outlets in the city, said he thought it would have minimal impact. “People might go there initially out of interest and as a result of the media hype, but they are sure to notice the shops there are nothing special,” he said, as he added that the biggest problems shops here faced related to lack of parking space and wi-fi facility.
 
When Tobias Achermann, the CEO of Zug Estates, which, inter alia, manages the Metalli shopping centre, was asked the same question, he said he was not concerned about any fall in turnover there. “It may fall slightly initially; of course, people will be interested to see what the new mall looks like and may even do some Christmas shopping there. However, I cannot see a trend where shoppers from here go there regularly. We have a very good infrastructure at the Metalli centre, a good range of stores and loyal customers, some of whom do their shopping here on a daily basis.”
 
The Mall of Switzerland offers a mixture of shops and eateries, the centre financed to the tune of just under half a billion Swiss francs through an investment fund in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
 
In addition to the shops and restaurants, there is a multiplex-cinema with 12 screens able to seat 1,962 in all. It also has the largest Imax cinema screen in the country. Commenting on this, Thomas Ulrich, the managing director of the Seehof and Gotthard cinemas in Zug, said that all competition was competition, and that naturally, they could not compete with all the seats available in the new complex in Ebikon, but he felt that, on a daily basis, it would not make much difference. “We have great faith in our loyal customers here. I think it will be more difficult for the cinemas in Lucerne,” he said.
 
For her part, Marisa Michlig, the spokeswoman for the Migros Cooperative of Lucerne, admitted that its shop at the new mall would have some impact on its branches in Zug, but not too much.