Approximately 124,000 sq m of modern retail space came on stream in the second quarter of 2024 through eight new completions, three extensions and two redevelopments.
The Polish retail market saw particularly robust deliveries in the April-June period, with new retail park openings. In addition, three buildings vacated by Tesco were redeveloped and replaced by two retail parks and a Leroy Merlin store in Poznań. This brought Poland’s total retail stock to 16.4 million sq m, with another 250,000 sq m expected to be added by the end of this year.
According to Cushman & Wakefield, at the end of June 2024 there was approximately 400,000 sq m under construction and scheduled for completion in 2024-26. There are nine extensions underway, including Designer Outlet Krakow, Brama Pomorza in Chojnice and Galeria Hosso in Police. The largest projects under construction are the Nowa Sukcesja Shopping Center in Łódź (35,000 sq m) and retail parks Silwana in Gorzów Wielkopolski (26,000 sq m) and BIG Ostróda (25,000 sq m).
The average footfall for shopping centers and retail parks in the April-June period was approximately 430,000 customers per retail scheme, up by 5% year-on-year but by as much as 16% from the same time in 2022. The best performers year-on-year were the smallest and largest shopping centers, with under 20,000 sq m and over 60,000 sq m of retail floorspace respectively.
Retail sales were in positive growth territory in the second quarter of 2024, with year-on-year volumes up by 4.1% in April and 5.0% in May, reveals the latest data from Statistics Poland. By comparison, retail sales readings for the second quarter of last year were negative: -7.3% year-on-year for April and -6.8% year-on-year for May, shares Cushman & Wakefield.
The second quarter of 2024 also saw three brands enter the Polish retail market, including the Romanian bakery chain Luca, the Ukrainian craft bar Veselka, and the online retailer answear´s first physical store. All the debuts took place in Warsaw.
“With consumer sentiment steadily improving, key retail categories for shopping centers, i.e. textiles, clothing and footwear in particular, are likely to see retail sales bounce back in the coming months”, comments Ewa Derlatka-Chilewicz, Head of Research, Cushman & Wakefield.
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