Online competition reshapes Austria’s 50-year-old SCS

Austria’s Shopping City Süd, a shopping centre in Vösendorf in the Mödling district, has moved from threatening nearby retailers to competing with them against online commerce, ORF reported as the centre marked its 50th anniversary.

When the SCS opened on 22 September 1976, a shopping centre of its size was new to Austria. Vienna textile manufacturer Hans Dujsik had developed the idea in the early 1970s of creating an American-style shopping city on the outskirts of Vienna.

Austria’s first Ikea furniture store opened at the SCS a year later. The centre was expanded in 1988, gained its own motorway exit in 1989 and added a multiplex cinema centre in 1994. In 2002, the main building, Ikea and the multiplex were connected.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, then known as Unibail-Rodamco, bought the SCS from the Hans Dujsik Private Foundation in 2008 for a reported 600 million to 800 million euros.

Today, Westfield Shopping City Süd is one of Europe’s largest shopping centres. It has about 330 shops, 60 restaurants and food outlets, and 10,000 parking spaces across more than 200,000 square metres. About 5,200 people work there.

The centre’s size caused concern among retailers in surrounding towns when it opened. Erich Moser, head of the Mödling district branch of the Austrian Economic Chamber and vice-president of the Lower Austrian Economic Chamber, recalled the opening in an interview with ORF.

“It was certainly a special experience,” Moser said. The large number of shops attracted attention, but there was also “a certain amount of concern” in nearby towns, where the SCS was viewed as a new competitor.

Mödling responded, among other measures, by creating a pedestrian zone. The aim was to offer a different shopping experience by linking retail more closely with urban and social life, Moser said.

Fifty years later, he said, the competition between the SCS and Mödling had largely disappeared. The main contest was now between online retailers and traditional shops.

The SCS has also adapted. Fashion and shoe retailers are particularly affected by internet competition. About 30 percent of the centre’s retail space is still devoted to fashion, but that share has been declining for years. Restaurants, food outlets and leisure businesses now account for more than 20 percent of the space, and their role is set to grow.

The operator has no plans to expand the centre. “We have enough space in Vösendorf,” Paul Douay, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s head for Central Europe, told the Austrian Press Agency.

From 2010 to 2013, the SCS was modernised while remaining open, at a cost of about 150 million euros. A further 25 million euros was invested in the multiplex in 2023 to expand its cinema, food and entertainment offering.

The coronavirus pandemic had previously hit the shopping centre hard. Douay said it returned to 2019 levels in 2023. In 2025, despite weak economic growth, the SCS recorded a new record for sales and visitor numbers.

“A good shopping experience today is created to a large extent by food and drink, community or leisure activities,” retail futurist Theresa Schleicher said at a panel discussion at the SCS on Tuesday. She said distinctive product ranges, durability and product quality were important advantages for traditional retailers, as customers could see, touch, try out and experience products immediately.

Douay also revived a long-running debate by calling for more flexible shop opening hours in Austria. Shopping centres in Bratislava, he said, were open and well attended on Sundays. He wants Austria to allow six to 10 Sunday opening days each year.

Moser did not commit himself to the proposal, saying it required broader discussion with all those affected. One question was whether businesses would have enough employees to staff additional opening days. “This is not an issue that can be dealt with off the cuff,” he said.