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Stores: Milan Home to Most Expensive Shopping Street

While many shopping streets and malls worldwide face rising retail vacancies, rents on a few luxury shopping streets are reaching record highs. Like Milan’s Via Monte where rents have surged to €20,000 a square metre annually, making it the world’s most expensive shopping street.

Visitors to Milan shouldn’t miss Via Monte Napoleone, a small street not far from the Duomo, the Scala opera house, and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. Many luxury brands have set up shop along this iconic street, making it a must-visit not only for luxury shoppers but also for digital signage enthusiasts. The area is also the home-turf of Milan-based digital signage integrator M-Cube that has developed and implemented signage concepts for world-famous brands.

M-Cube team on Via Monte Napoleone in Milan (Image: invidis)
M-Cube team on Via Monte Napoleone in Milan (Image: invidis)

According to commercial real estate group Cushman & Wakefield, top rents on Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone have risen 11% in the past year, reaching €20,000 per square meter annually—the highest rent for shops in any of the 138 global retail destinations tracked. The Financial Times also reports that luxury group Kering (Gucci) acquired a building for €1.3 billion, marking Europe’s largest property deal in two years.

In contrast to New York’s Fifth Avenue, where rents remained flat, the cost for luxury brands on Via Monte Napoleone has risen by 30% in the past year.

Top 20 luxury shopping streets 2024 (ranked by headline rent per m²)

  1. Via Monte Napoleone, Milan (EUR 20.000)
  2. Upper 5th Avenue, New York  (EUR 19.537)
  3. New Bond Street, London (EUR 17.210)
  4. Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong (EUR 15.697)
  5. Avenue des Champs Élysées, Paris (EUR 12.519)
  6. Ginza, Tokyo (EUR 11.582)
  7. Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich (EUR 9.585)
  8. Pitt Street Mall, Sydney  (EUR 7.832)
  9. Myeongdong, Seoul (EUR 6.719)
  10. Kohlmarkt, Vienna (EUR 5.400)
  11. West Nanjing Road, Shanghai (EUR 5.095)
  12. Orchard Road, Singapore (EUR 4.576)
  13. Kaufinger/Neuhauser, Munich (EUR 3.840)
  14. Dong Khoi, Ho Chi Minh City (EUR 3.594)
  15. Ermou, Athens (EUR 3.480)
  16. Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona (EUR 3.180)
  17. Grafton Streen, Ireland (EUR 3.024)
  18. P.C. Hoofstraat, Amsterdam (EUR 2.800)
  19. Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur (EUR 2.701)
  20. Parizska Street, Prague (EUR 2.700)

Source: Cushman & Wakefield

With record rents, flagship stores on luxury streets follow a special business case. These stores rarely generate enough revenue to justify the high rent, premium shop fittings, and significant digital signage investments. However, brands gain immense value from their flagship stores, as they set a standard for the rest of the chain. Essentially, these stores serve as a physical representation of the brand, designed to attract both customer and media attention.