This will be a year of stabilisation on the retail market

I do not expect any great revolution to take place on the retail market in 2015. I think that the most difficult years are behind us and this will be one of relative stabilisation. Because of the greater and greater saturation of the market and the lowering of rent rates, the activity of retail developers will decrease and will be limited to smaller towns and smaller facilities. The formats of retail parks and convenience centres will continue to evolve, which is a natural consequence of the market maturing. This is also related to customers’ expectations, as they are becoming more and more eager to choose smaller centres closer to home. The importance of high streets is growing in the largest cities and they are increasingly being chosen by small boutiques and new foreign brands for their debuts. However, tenants are still being very cautious in their choice of new shopping locations. Thanks to the current attractive leasing terms, many chains are looking towards growth once again and planning the openings of own and franchised shops – and this trend should continue. In my opinion, the largest and the most interesting projects that are to be opened this year include Tarasy Zamkowe in Lublin, Sukcesja in Łódź and Galena Jurowiecka in Białystok.