South America Seeks US Chains For Growth

LAS VEGAS-From Argentina to Venezuela, the shopping center industry is expanding rapidly throughout much of South America, said speakers at a special focus on the continent at the ICSC Spring Convention, which concluded Wednesday. Now it needs international retailers.

With the exception of Brazil, which has a mature industry, most of the continent’s centers are populated with local chains and anchored by cinemas, supermarkets and hypermarkets. But, as the continent’s subzones see economic growth, development is following.

“We are growing; the economics are working much better” in the subzones of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Peru, said Carlos Lecueder, president of Montivideo, Uruguay-based Estudio Luis E. Lecueder. “South American exports are growing to the rest of the world. We are being well-paid for oil, beef, and rice.”