In the center of Vilnius there are images of empty shop windows: companies move after 18 years, because they no longer survive

Moved out after 18 years

“Rent 144 m2. m. ”, – here is such a striking yellow inscription on Gedimino avenue. 5 hangs from one of the shop windows.

The location belongs to one of the companies whose name was asked not to be mentioned, and Edgar, the company’s deputy director, says that the Lelija brand, which sells clothes, was located here before they moved.

The company is said to have worked here for 18 years, but plans have been unexpectedly adjusted by both the pandemic and another factor.

“It was felt a lot when the closure and the change of traffic in the Old Town began, the number of customers decreased and the pandemic also contributed. The tenants left because they no longer survived.

They moved in in October. There are people who are generally interested, but usually people ask for prices, etc. “, He says.

Now the price of a square meter of this place is 48 Eur without VAT, and the company offers a total of 144 m2. local, which amount to almost 7 thousand. Eur per month without VAT.

“Anyway, if you want to open a nightclub here, the price is one, higher, and if a store is located, lower,” says Edgar, saying that there are people who call and ask, but so far they have not been cut off the hands. somebody.

“We really want a good company to come, not for a short time, not for two or three months, we don’t even talk to them like that,” he says.

“It is unfortunate that companies are moving and it seems that it will be here for a long time, not a year or two. I think everything is still empty, because the pandemic will not end soon,” thinks Edgar.

I didn’t pay to keep

A little further afield, after walking down Gediminas Avenue, another advertisement announcing the vacant premises hangs in the window.

According to Vytis Penelis, a real estate consultant (RE) at Solid Real Advisors, they were also released during the quarantine and there was a store selling cheese and wine.

“Almost the entire avenue Gedimino. The empty premises earlier today are empty due to the pandemic, after all, there are no more human flows. <...> Anyway, I can say that there are many empty premises in Vilnius.

It is these rooms, in which the inscription hangs in the window, that are empty, because the former tenants simply no longer paid to have this point of sale due to the pandemic, and relocated their activities.

Avda Gedimino. Entrepreneurs established in the early 20th century are heavily influenced by tourists. Vilniaus Street is also empty, there are no people, but here the businessmen have managed to earn money and keep the rented premises with the latest savings, ”he says.

The aforementioned empty premises on Avenida Gediminas are 25 square meters. the price is higher.

“If the premises are small, the price per square meter loses substance and the total rental price, which in this case is 2,000. EUR. If there was no pandemic, the price would be higher, ”he says.

In general, according to the real estate consultancy, the situation today is sad.

“Pilies and Didžioji streets are completely dependent on tourists, especially Pilies. I think maybe half the space is empty now compared to what it used to be.

There, people exchange souvenirs, and only tourists buy them, and they can really be forgotten for a while. The rental prices on this street are really high, ”he says.

According to V. Penelis, going to Gedimino Avenue. openings are available today, but most are said to be still waiting.

“Prices are going down, the business is waiting for a very good place to rent, in a good place,” explains V. Penelis.

Reduce prices

Very close to the Cathedral Square, and another empty room with the inscription “For Rent”, which is managed and mediated by Ober Haus as an intermediary between the owner and the tenant. Its commercial real estate project manager, Remigijus Valickas, says that the size of these premises is 91 square meters, and the business that had previously rented the premises has also abandoned them due to the quarantine and pandemic.

“There was a catering restaurant, catering venues.

The company moved during the first quarantine, but we noticed that in general, the premises that were vacated in the fall and summer were not very full, and even more have appeared since then, especially when the state subsidies for the rent of the premises ended in August.

In September and October we saw the boom of empty premises, and today the choice of such premises is really there, ”says R. Valickas.

According to him, the business is barely surviving today and runs out of financial flows, so it is not surprising that there are simply no people willing to rent premises today.

“As for the Castle, the Gates of Dawn or the Great Streets, the premises have been emptied mainly because there is no traffic at all.

For the most part, they were all oriented to tourism, and when we don’t have them, of course, the streets are extinct, there is no traffic, so the place is empty, “he says, explaining that it will take time. reoccupy the premises and it will all depend on how soon Lithuania leaves the quarantine regime.

According to R. Valickas, today, to have only tenants, the rental prices of the premises are being reduced.

According to him, before the pandemic, the price per square meter was about 45 square meters. without VAT, but today it has dropped to only 30 euros per square meter. Without VAT.

“We have such a drop in prices, but even that, look, no one has rented for that long,” he says.