Stripping for the clientele

Want to make money in retail? No space for more shopping centres in Budapest? Don’t worry - go to the countryside! This is the latest slogan for developers eager to take a risk in starting strip mall projects all over Hungary    Nandor Mester As the latest wave of big shopping centre developments comes to an end in Budapest,  Hungarian and foreign developers are looking for opportunities in smaller cities. German and Austrian companies are acquiring old industrial plots and buildings for such projects, while some prefer green field investment.Most of the strip malls that have already opened, and those to come in the future, are between 10-15,000 sqm in size and situated in towns with less then 50,000 inhabitants. With the size of Hungary’s population, and with the existing or firmly planned retail projects in several cities, the potential is enormous for at least the next 3-5 years. One example of this is the Israeli firm Casaro, which is expected to deliver two smalle