Geographical distribution
Retail parks and convenience retail
Retail parks and convenience retail investment transactions
Since 2016
* Points do not indicate the exact locations
Retail parks and convenience retail transactions continued to sharply polarise between major agglomerations and small cities below 50,000 residents. The vast majority of schemes was transacted in small cities and in key metropolitan areas (including the city and neighbouring municipalities). The bigger city, excluding agglomeration markets, the lower number of transacted convenience retail schemes.
Such distribution of investment transactions in analysed retail segment reflects on the one hand investors’ appetite for assets in prime locations, and on the other hand intensive development of convenience retail properties in smaller and smaller cities, which attract customers from the surrounding rural areas.
Unsurprisingly, major cities saw the biggest transactions, as the largest power parks are located predominantly on the edge of primary cities or in their agglomeration areas.
COVID-19 pandemic outcome boosted the convenience trend, which is a strong shopping style.
Quick, every-day and convenient shopping in the neighbourhood or on the way home is what customers are looking for. Thus, convenience retail parks are continuously developing, exploring also retail markets in small cities.
The convenience retail park tenant mix is usually composed of the discount food operator, drugstore, basic services and „value retailers”, which are the most intensively expanding stationary chains. One of them is the German chained value retailer Woolworth, who at the beginning of 2023 will enter the Polish market by opening first two stores in retail parks located in Kraków and Łódź, with expansion plans of over 400 locations. Moreover, incomparably lower operating costs attract fast fashion brand and other retailers, like DM Markt, to expand outside shopping centres.
The off-price and frequently changing offer encourage clients to spontaneous visits. One of the most popular value retailers, Pepco, redrew from the online sales after just one trial year. Off-price offer, which is the core of the chain’s business, resulted in the relatively low average ticket prevented the building of profitable online sales – customers prefer to visit the stationary store rather than pay for delivery costs.
Artur Czuba Associate Director, Investment
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