Dead or alive?

The golden age of the sector in Poland is now over, I was told. But have the reports of its death been greatly exaggerated? On the one hand – “no” seems to be the answer: fewer and fewer large malls are being built and the saturation even in smaller towns is now incredibly high. On the other hand, perhaps we should wait and see what the market still has in store for us before doing anything hasty? The sector has continued to evolve due to the development of new technology and the internet. The shopping habits of Poles have also been undergoing changes, but this does not mean that we have stopped visiting shopping centres altogether. We have caught up with Western Europe in terms of retail space saturation. The Polish retail landscape is now dominated by two trends: the redevelopment and extension of existing, often well established, shopping centres (as the big become even bigger); and the race to fill in the remaining gaps in the country’s market through the construction of convenience centres and retail parks. Furthermore, exceptions to the general rule do exist, such as the opening of a new shopping behemoth – Apsys’ 100,000 sqm Posnania in Poznań, as well as a small project by Griffin Real Estate, Hala Koszyki. The latter, modelled on the Foodhallen centre in Amsterdam, San Lorenzo in Florence and Mercado da Ribeira in Lisbon, follows the trend towards the greater integration of entertainment and catering concepts into the traditional world of retail. On the following pages luminaries of Atrium Real Estate and Gemini Holding as well as experts from Cushman & Wakefield, among others, tell us all about the way retail has been changing and what developers, property owners and retail chains can expect in the months and years ahead of us.

I wish you a pleasant read,

Ewa Andrzejewska