OBSERVER TOP 10 Shopping malls The supply of modern shopping centers in Poland has grown at a stable rate since 2007, with developers delivering an average of over half a million square meters of gross leasable area annually. In 2014, the supply of modern retail space in shopping centers exceeded the mark of 10 million square meters of GLA, which shows that Poland has been gaining experience in the construction of shopping centers of various formats. Consequently, the market is developing into a more mature and highly competitive environment with a growing need for new concepts and retailers that make it possible to differentiate pipeline projects from existing centers. Polish commercial real estate still attracts a lot of interest from foreign investors and draws the bulk of investment capital flowing into Central and Eastern Europe, which is the result of a stable economy, a growing GDP, liquidity in the commercial real estate market and available sources of funding for real estate acquisition. As of the end of June, there were more than 426 shopping centers in Poland with GLA of at least
RANKED BY GLA
5,000 square meters, most of them traditional shopping centers. In addition, there were 34 retail parks and 10 outlet centers. The average vacancy rate, measuring absorption of retail space in shopping centers in Poland, is low and remains at about 3 percent in the top 15 Polish cities (a review based on 229 shopping centers). With an average of 262 square meters of GLA in shopping centers per 1,000 inhabitants, Poland is ranked in the middle of the EU27 scale, which is headed mainly by countries from Western and Northern Europe with a similar climate but more retail streets. Therefore, there is reasonable potential for further growth, but locations must be chosen carefully as Poles’ purchasing power is not as strong as that of residents of some other countries which are leaders in terms of saturation. The retail sector in Poland is evolving, there has been strong growth in online sales but also a large number of new small-sized retail outlets, discount stores and supermarkets established in regional and smaller cities with populations under 100,000.
1Manufaktura GLA (sqm): 126,000
GBA (sqm): 159,000 Number of shops: 300 Annual visitors: 20,000,000 Selected tenants (name: space leased - sqm): Real: WND; Leroy Merlin: WND; Cinema City: WND; Pure: WND; Zara: WND; C&A: WND; Van Graaf: WND; Empik: WND; Almi Decor: WND; RTV Euro AGD: WND; Reserved: WND Managing company: Apsys Polska manufaktura.com
2 Arkadia
GBA (sqm): 159,000 Number of shops: 270 Annual visitors: 21,000,000 Selected tenants (name: space leased - sqm): Carrefour: 18,400; Leroy Merlin: 11,800; Saturn: 5,627; Cinema City: 4,985; Peek & Cloppenburgh: 3,635; Holmes Place: WND; H&M: 2,787; C&A: 2,221 Managing company: Unibail-Rodamco arkadia.com.pl
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NOVEMBER 2014 • WBJ OBSERVER
Images: shutterstock, Wikimedia
GLA (sqm): 111,900