Briefs

Mango in Galaxy

In February the Mango fashion chain opened its first shop in Szczecin Galaxy Centrum, developed by Echo Investment. The outlet has 300 sqm. The company plans to open more outlets in Poland, for example in Wrocław. Mango runs 706 shops in 72 countries. Mango has been operating shops in Poland since 2000.

VP Market in Poland

VP Market, a Lithuanian food stores operator, plans to open its shops in Poland and Ukraine as well as to continue its expansion in the Baltic countries. According to the company's management the first Polish and Ukrainian stores should be opened by the end of this year. VP Market operates Minima chains (200-800 sqm), Media (800-2,000 sqm), Maxima (over 2,000 sqm) and Hyper Maxima and Maxima Baze (10,000 sqm and more). There are 185 VP Market stores in Lithuania, 80 in Latvia and 1 in Estonia. The company reported total sales of EUR 1.04 bln for 2003 a17.9 percent rise over the previous year.

Peek & Cloppenburg in Arkadia

German clothes retailer Peek & Cloppenburg will open its store (3,700 sqm) in Arkadia shopping centre in Warsaw. The lease was signed last week. 110,000 sqm retail space Arkadia shopping centre will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2004. It is being developed by BEG Ingenierie Polska (also deputy investor) and Cefic (also responsible for leasing). Warbud is the general contractor.

Krakchemia ploughs back profits

Krakchemia, a Polish company that operates Alma, the supermaket chain, will not be paying dividends but will invest all the net profits. Jerzy Mazgaj, the president and main shareholder, explains that the level of the planned investments does not allow the company to pay dividends. Krakchemia wish to open eight new supermarkets this year of which three are already under construction.

Heitman and Polimeni alliance

Heitman, a real estate investment management firm, has established joint venture with Polimeni International which is to develop a EUR 135 mln portfolio of hypermarket-anchored retail centres across Poland on behalf of Heitman Central Europe Property Partners II fund. This joint venture expects to develop shopping centres in Kalisz, Poznań, Głogów, Gniezno and Grudziądz, as well as other secondary and tertiary markets throughout the country. The centres will range in size from 21,400 sqm to 36,200 sqm. The developments are scheduled to start in early 2004 and should be completed by mid-2006. Polimeni is currently involved in the pre-development and leasing phases of five projects in Poland totalling app. 150,000 sqm. It has offices in Warsaw and Gdynia.