Valletta property empire paves way for city’s real luxury shopping experience

Valletta Boutique Living, the VBL Group, is working on closing what once was a fragmented Valletta marketplace by consolidating element by element using economies of scale to ensure profitability across the board.

Today the VBL Group is known for all things Valletta. Since inception, it successfully positioned itself as the main investor on the peninsula. As the market leader in the Valletta hospitality market, the VBL Group was in the best position to capitalise on opportunities which came along with the disruption caused by the COVID measures.

“The vision of the group has been clear from its inception; it was not by chance that we became the largest private owner of real estate in Valletta. Today not only do we own a vast portfolio of property in the capital, but we are also now the largest multi-site hospitality provider,” says Andrei Imbroll, chairman of the VBL Group. “Our focus on Valletta paid off!”

“The Group’s business model is clear. Consolidation and economies of scale are the two key elements that the Group is pushing. The beauty of it is that boutique hotel owners see the added value of our proposition, including the benefits of partnering up with a company like VBL.”

Apart from the pre-COVID portfolio, VBL has added a further three boutique hotels to its portfolio, which followed the acquisition of Casa Rooms, one of Malta’s leading property management companies with a significant number of apartments in Valletta.

The group operates in multiple sectors, including residential, hospitality, office space and food and beverage, with upcoming investments in retail and parking space to be added in a diversified portfolio focused in Valletta.

The acquisition of a large retail space in the upper part of Valletta, touted to be the start of the rejuvenation of Valletta as a shopping destination, is now well on the way to deliver what Stephen Clough, VBL Group’s Head of Development, describes as “the first, real luxury shopping experience in Malta”.

“Regenerating Valletta’s shopping experience is vital for in order to take the city to the next level. A capital city without a luxury shopping destination is unheard of – imagine London without Oxford Street, or Paris without Champs-Élysées. Valletta needs to revitalize what it once had. Luxury shopping is an industry and we need to get all the elements right. The product, the visual experience Valletta offers, the cafes, the accommodation and the infrastructure.”