“Romania still has a significant development potential in the modern retail area. We can see solid demand, fueled by rising consumption and international brands’ interest in expansion, particularly via retail parks. (…) In the coming years, each city with an active local economy and a population of at least 15,000-20,000 inhabitants can become a pole of attraction for this type of development,” explains Simina Niculita, Director | Partner | Retail Agency at Colliers.
Data shows Romania modern commercial space stock in the area of large cities, with over 100,000 inhabitants, is quite similar with other countries in the region. This does not suggest there’s no more room for growth, but that expansion plans must been more nuanced.
At the 50,000-100,000-inhabitant category, there are some differences, but the biggest gap against most countries in the region is in the category of cities with a population of between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants. Here, Romania has an average of 70 square meters of commercial spaces per 1.000 inhabitants, way below the around 500 square meters in Czechia and Poland or over 800 square meters in Slovakia.
Thus, rising incomes and the desire for modern formats are transforming communities of around 50,000 inhabitants into appealing destinations for new investments and in this context retail parks remain the main growth driver.
On the medium and long term, Colliers estimates the number of retail parks will continue to grow in all city categories.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)