Redefining Retail: The Changing Landscape of Shopping Centres and Retail Parks in Poland

Poland’s retail property market is undergoing a structural shift that extends beyond the visible growth of retail parks. Changes in consumer behaviour, tenant strategies and capital allocation are reshaping how both shopping centres and convenience formats operate within the same ecosystem. The result is not simply a market in recovery, but one being redefined.

The Polish retail market has recalibrated since Covid. Since 2022, the shift has been redefining physical retail: how space is used, how income is underwritten and how consumers choose between convenience and destination.

Before 2020, the market was largely driven by scale. Large shopping centres dominated modern retail stock and investment attention, accounting for roughly three-quarters of total supply, while retail parks were often treated as complementary rather than strategic. That hierarchy has shifted. By the end of 2024, shopping centres still accounted for 78% of modern retail gross leasable area (GLA) in Poland, but new supply was already being led by retail parks. In the first half of 2024, they represented the vast majority of delivered space, and by 2025 total modern retail stock exceeded 15 million m2 of GLA, once broader convenience formats were included.

This is a structural realignment.

Retail parks have expanded because they fit the post-pandemic consumer. Polish households have become more cost-conscious, more time-sensitive and more focused on proximity. A typical retail park – anchored by a grocery operator such as Biedronka, Lidl or Aldi, supported by widely present chains such as Rossmann, Pepco, Hebe or Action, and complemented by everyday services such as a pharmacy, bakery or parcel point – serves repeat, necessity-driven visits rather than occasional trips.

The frequency of use is key. A retail park is not a destination in the traditional sense; it has become part of the infrastructure required for daily life.

For tenants, the past four years have also brought a clear rebalancing. Expansion has been led by value-oriented fashion, discount general merchandise and health-and-beauty operators, all suited to smaller, standardised store formats. These categories have been particularly active in smaller cities and retail park locations, while other segments, including electronics and selected services, have expanded more selectively.

Retail parks offer lower occupancy costs, simpler store formats and turnover more closely linked to everyday spending. They also allow tenants to reduce dependence on large shopping centres and build more diversified networks. For many occupiers, this is risk management as well as expansion.

At the same time, the increasing standardisation of tenant mixes is becoming more visible. Many schemes rely on a repeatable combination of grocery, drugstore and value retail.

However, what initially drove the success of retail parks – simplicity and repeatability – is becoming a constraint. As similar schemes are replicated across overlapping catchments, the format risks drifting towards commoditisation.

Despite the volume of development, expansion remains concentrated in a relatively narrow group of retail categories. This raises a serious question: how long can current absorption be sustained without broader tenant diversification? The issue is no longer whether space can be leased, but whether sales densities remain sustainable across an increasingly dense network of locations.

Large shopping centres have entered a different phase. They still dominate existing stock and continue to attract major investment transactions. In 2024, retail investment volume in Poland reached approximately €1.6 billion, with major shopping centre deals accounting for a substantial share of the market. Capital has not abandoned shopping centres, but it has become more selective.

The change is also visible in performance. In 2024, shopping centre tenant turnover increased by 4.3% year on year, while footfall rose by only 0.2%. More recent data points to the same pattern: visits are broadly stable, while spending can still grow. This suggests a more intentional customer – fewer casual visits, but higher conversion.

The role of large-format grocery anchors has also evolved. Hypermarkets and large supermarkets remain present in many centres, but they no longer generate footfall as they once did. As shopping missions become smaller and more proximity-driven, large-format grocery increasingly acts as part of the wider offer rather than the unquestioned anchor of the scheme. In some secondary assets, this raises questions about the long-term efficiency of large grocery space within enclosed formats.

For shopping centres, this creates both resilience and pressure. Strong assets continue to perform because they offer concentration: brands, services, food, leisure and reasons to spend time. Secondary centres face a narrower margin for error. Without a clear role within their catchment, they are more exposed to competition from retail parks, e-commerce and rising operating costs.

For investors, the market has become more disciplined rather than less active. Retail parks appeal because of their scalability, shorter development cycles and exposure to essential retail. Prime shopping centres remain liquid when supported by strong turnover, active asset management and a defensible catchment position. The distinction is no longer format-driven; it is strategy-driven.

For customers, the outcome is a clearer separation of roles. Retail parks serve everyday needs: quick, accessible and repeatable. Shopping centres serve broader purposes: choice, experience and social interaction. These formats are not replacing one another. They are being used differently, often by the same customer in the same week.

The next phase of the Polish retail market will be defined less by expansion and more by precision. Retail parks will continue to grow, but success will depend on disciplined site selection, tenant mix and genuine catchment logic. Shopping centres will remain relevant, but only where they evolve and reinforce their role within the urban or regional structure.

The past four years have not produced a single winning format. They have clarified the roles retail space is expected to play. Convenience and destination are no longer variations of the same offer. They are separate systems – and the assets that understand this distinction will define how capital is deployed, how tenants expand and how consumers shop in the years ahead.