Data and facts on the retail market in Klagenfurt
Retail space city
93,100 sqm
Retail space per capita
0.91 sqm 153 sqm
Ø Shop size
Share of retail chain branches
42.9 % 15.6 % 11.0 %
Vacancy rate Turnover rate
Source: Standort + Markt 2021/22
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The Retail Market in Klagenfurt
Plans for Klagenfurt’s city centre have been ready and waiting for many years, but the realisation of projects has lagged far behind these great ambitions. All the same, construction started in 2021 on “The Holly“, a mixed-use project with a substantial share of retail space which is located in the former Woolworth building on Heiligengeist Square. Concrete plans were also announced for the former Salzamt Hotel in the Landhaushof, where a market hall (on the ground floor) and additional retail areas will be created up to the third floor. The speed with which these plans can actually be realised is difficult to estimate in the current complicated retail environment, especially because
the Klagenfurter city centre is faced with a number of structural challenges. Visitor frequency has been steadily declining for years, and the vacancy rate recently rose by a further two percentage points to a very high level of 15.6%. Even at prime locations, 10% of the space is now vacant. Media Markt, CCC and Pimkie, among others, left the inner city during the past year and new rentals, for example to pepco and Kult, were unable to completely offset this reduction.
"Shopping locations close to the city centre urgently need impulses to reduce the above- average vacancy rate."
Demography & the Klagenfurt economy
The 93,100 square metres of selling space in Klagenfurt include a remarkably large 4,900 metres along the inner city streets and, although only 55 metres of this street length qualify as prime, they are responsible for nearly 50% of the space. A very dominant role is played by the City Arkaden Klagenfurt, currently the only larger shopping centre in the inner city, with its 30,000 square metres of retail space. The top locations have shifted towards the west at the intersection of the Wiener Gasse and Kramergasse, and rental prices in the inner city have adjusted accordingly. The branch mix in Klagenfurt has changed significantly. The share of the clothing sector has fallen by seven percentage points to 29% in
The capital of the province of Carinthia is the sixth largest city in Austria. A population of 102,000 makes it substantially larger than Villach, which ranks directly below Klagenfurt in the list of the most populous cities but is far behind with only 63,000 residents. This difference in size as well as a better central location make Klagenfurt the clear number one in the Carinthian retail sector. Carinthia ranks towards the end of Austria’s per capita GDP statistics, but the recent above-average growth rates will also benefit the retail landscape.
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