Inside Europe’s Retail Property Boom: Ian Sandford on Debt Markets, Placemaking & F&B Trends

Recorded live at MAPIC 2025 in Cannes, this episode features a rare deep-dive with Ian Sandford, President of Eurofund Group, one of Europe’s most influential retail property operators. With more than €2B in assets across Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and the UK, Eurofund sits at the centre of the sector’s biggest shifts. -------- *Welcome to the official  channel of THE RETAIL PODCAST, the leading community for global retail leaders, innovators, and changemakers.* If you are struggling to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving industry, looking for insights from major conferences like NRF, Shoptalk, and EuroCIS, or aiming to connect your digital funnels to physical events with measurable ROI, this channel is designed for you. ➡️ Hosted by Alex Rezvan and joined by some of the most respected voices in the sector, The Retail Podcast brings sharp, actionable insights from industry veterans with backgrounds at Microsoft and Verizon, where projects worth over $1.5 billion were directed. Our mission is to help retailers and businesses that sell to retailers anticipate change, embrace technology, and unlock new growth opportunities. Here you will discover exclusive interviews with executives and innovators, coverage of global retail conferences, analysis of technology and AI trends, in-depth explorations of fashion, grocery, luxury, and eCommerce, and thought leadership that keeps your strategy relevant all year long. As part of the RetailNews.AI ecosystem, this channel does more than report the news—it shapes the conversation on the future of retail. *Subscribe now and activate notifications so you never miss the strategies, stories, and signals defining tomorrow’s retail.* -------- 📲 Follow us on LinkedIn to stay connected with daily retail insights and industry updates. https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-retail-podcast/ 📩 Contact us at: [email protected] -------- 🔗 References: -------- ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 Running a shopping centre is harder than people think 00:27 Recording live from MAPIC 2025 in Cannes 00:53 Eurofund Group scale & portfolio overview 01:39 What trends are shaping European retail real estate? 01:58 Debt market dynamics & competitive leverage 02:23 Global capital flows reshaping asset valuations 02:41 US startups & new entrants to Europe 03:03 Why retail is growing again 03:28 Expansion advice: why Berlin leads Europe 03:50 Hamburg & Munich property strengths 04:18 Experience, placemaking & guest-centric design 04:40 From “clients” to “guests”: linguistic and strategic shifts 05:13 Toilets, car parks & what they reveal about landlords 05:46 F&B’s rising share and its role in dwell time 06:23 “Get them and keep them”: the only rule 06:44 The question property executives always ask 07:06 Understanding retailer performance inside your centres 07:30 Are your retailers making money? 07:47 Retail media: clean environments vs screen overload 08:06 The biggest screen in Southern Europe (Lisbon) 08:27 Digital vs calmness: what consumers want 08:45 Closing thanks -------- #TheRetailPodcast #propertymanagement #retailproperty