High streets or pub heartland?

The vast majority of retail chains operating on the Polish market locate their shops in shopping centres and malls. However, the market has started to saturate, and as consumers’ expectations have been growing, chains are looking for new ways to make their offers more attractive. This could be the chance for high streets. Their development has been a topic of discussion for many years, but so far the high street has not counterbalanced shopping centres in any way, it has been more the case of new malls sucking life out of the streets and changing them into a kind of open-air food court. If a street is alive it is mainly thanks to restaurants and pubs, with just a few exceptions, it is the gastronomy which dominates on the Polish streets, leaving services and fashion far behind. However, this has been changing. According to the latest CBRE research, Polish consumers are now more inclined to shop on high streets and their preferences have changed over the last few years. “Shopping behaviour connected with spending free time has been changing. A lot of streets which include cafés, restaurants, pubs and clubs are attracting not only tourists but also more and more locals. Polish customers are looking for new shopping experiences and unique new brands that are not present in shopping centres,’ believes Katarzyna Urbaszek, a negotiator at CBRE. The company has examined the most popular high streets inWarsawand Kraków. CBRE has shown that the high streets sector in Warsaw is clearly benefiting from the shortage of space in shopping centres. While looking for new locations for their projects developers have already spotted the development potential of the high street market. Many tenants choose locations on high streets for the openings of their first shops in the country. High streets in Kraków differ from those in Warsaw, both in terms of the scale and their character. In Kraków high streets are gathered around one location (the surround the Market Square) and tourism is considered to be the driving force of the development here. Despite Kraków’s popularity and attractiveness, the city still lacks popular international brands representing both the accessory and fashion industries. “This results from the lack of retail facilities that could accommodate such tenants. Looking at the number of renovations projects it is clear to see that the situation has been gradually changing and investors are more and more aware of the potential of this city,” believe CBRE’s experts. The process of creation and effective management of dynamically changing urban areas to develop or strengthen the position of high streets is long and complicated. Particularly in Warsaw, there are a number of obstacles and problems that have a considerable influence on further development. The main problems of high streets include: the lack of cohesive management and a development strategy for each of the streets, heterogeneous ownership structures, the high cost of land and buildings, and inadequate organisation of road traffic and parking spaces. “A good retail location is characterised by convenient access, a broad offer, ease of access, cleanliness and security – these are still the most important for customers. To provide support for the further development of high streets in the main Polish cities, significant changes are needed in the approach of local authorities and property owners to overcome the number of obstacles and problems that currently exist,” says Magdalena Frątczak, the director of the retail department at CBRE Polska.