Mister Spex opens new store in WILMA in Berlin – Expansion of the strategic partnership of Mister Spex and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Europe’s largest online optical brand joins WILMA: Mister Spex opened a new store on October 20 in the shopping center operated by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) in Berlin’s Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district on a rental area of around 240 square meters. The internationally operating brand has been consistently expanding its omnichannel sales concept and thus its offline store portfolio for years. In the new store, the on-site selection includes around 800 eyeglass and sunglass frames. At the same time, as in all Mister Spex stores, customers can continue to access the optician’s entire online range, which includes over 10,000 pairs of glasses and sunglasses from more than 100 well-known brands. The new store in WILMA is the eighth overall in URW’s management portfolio in Germany. The owner of WILMA is the Canadian real estate company Ivanhoé Cambridge.

Mister Spex’s successful omnichannel strategy consistently focuses on customers with all their individual needs and enables them to use exactly the service they look for and favor for their eyewear purchase at various touchpoints. Online and offline, Mister Spex offers an extensive range of high-quality private label brands, attractive premium and luxury brands, and trend-conscious independent labels. The glasses and sunglasses can be tried on virtually or free of charge by ordering them home for approval, and there are also various online services such as online eye tests and various app services. The stores also offer free services such as glasses fittings, eye tests and personal consultations.

“After launching our first store in Berlin five and a half years ago, I am all the more delighted that we are now opening our sixth Berlin branch in WILMA. At more and more locations, our customers have the opportunity to decide for themselves when, where and how they want to buy their glasses and which service they want to use via which channel. As always, we combine the best of both worlds. On this path, we are happy about partnerships like the one with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield,” says Mirko Caspar, Co-CEO and Member of the Management Board at Mister Spex SE.

“We are very pleased to further extend our strategic partnership with Mister Spex, which as an internationally successful online optical brand is one of the most renowned digital native brands in our brand and tenant portfolio. We are united by four years of joint experience in establishing offline retail offerings from Mister Spex at URW’s assets. The opening in WILMA now adds another chapter to this success story. The new store is also an excellent addition to the on-site offering structure and is proof that we have been able to continuously increase the attractiveness of the asset following the completed repositioning at the end of 2020,” says Constantin Wiesmann, Director of Leasing Austria & Germany at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.

The new store in WILMA is proof of the successful strategic partnership between Mister Spex and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, which already includes stores in Westfield Centro in Oberhausen, in Ruhr Park in Bochum, in Köln Arcaden, in Pasing Arcaden in Munich as well as in Spandau Arcaden and Gropius Passagen in Berlin. In addition to the German locations, the partnership now also extends to other European countries: There are Mister Spex stores in Westfield Shopping City Süd in the greater Vienna area, in Westfield Donau Zentrum in Vienna and also in Westfield Mall of Scandinavia.

Further highlight after successful repositioning in 2020
URW successfully completed the extensive modernisation of the local supply center commissioned by owner Ivanhoé Cambridge at the end of 2020. The repositioning centered on an even stronger focus of the location on its function as an urban meeting place and impulse generator for the district. The 1,000-square-meter market hall with a diverse range of restaurants and food outlets in the basement is its vibrating core.
At the same time, the tenant mix has been further optimized in the wake of the repositioning and also in the further course since the beginning of 2020 with more than 25 new leases. In mid-September, URW had already announced that H&M had extended its lease in the center for the long term, modernizing the space and expanding it to what is now around 3,200 square meters. In the first half of 2022 H&M HOME will open as the second one in Berlin in the newly acquired space.

WILMA – social meeting place in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
For more than ten years, the neighborhood center has been the social hub in Berlin’s Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district. More than 100 stores are located on 32,100 square meters of rental area. The tenant mix is supplemented by the market hall with varied gastronomy concepts. The asset is optimally connected to Berlin’s public transport network via Bismarckstrasse, Wilmersdorfer Strasse and Charlottenburg subway and suburban train stations, as well as bus stops in the immediate vicinity. In addition, WILMA has 300 parking spaces.

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