In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, investors delivered retail parks with a total area of 62,890 square meters.
Investors have adopted this recipe, also suitable during the pandemic, increasing exponentially year by year the number of retail parks and implicitly the total area of new spaces delivered in shopping centers: 92,800 sqm in 2020, 124,700 sqm in 2021, and a record area of 256,646 sqm estimated to be delivered in 2022.
In Bucharest, modern shopping centers have a total area of 1,118,732 sqm, while in the other five major cities in the ranking, the stock varies between 131,500 sqm and 219,500 sqm. Since last year, investors have expanded their area of interest, tracking second and third-tier cities and even smaller localities with more than 20,000 inhabitants. This trend will continue in the coming years.
The number of localities where developers open modern retail centers has doubled. At the end of 2022, Romania is expected to have 48 localities with modern retail parks, with a similar concept, respectively an important supermarket as the main anchor and service spaces in areas such as pharmacy, dry cleanin, pet shop, hairdresser’s services, bank, mobile phone services, flower shop, homemade and fashion stores and in some cases restaurant area and fast food.
A new concept is retail parks in new residential areas, in satellite localities near big cities, such as Lemon Retail Park, in Pipera, which is to be delivered this week, located in an area of new villas near Bucharest. The family market shopping centers in the Miroslava and Bucium communes near the city of Iasi have a similar concept. Mega Image, Pepco and Banca Transilvania are among the retailers that open new stores and branches of banks in such retail parks.
“In 2022, shopping malls are on a recovery trend; traffic is increasing, reaching the pre-pandemic level. The current economic environment will continue to substantially impact next year on the new deliveries of retail spaces, especially for the mall segment.
The most sustainable and prosperous developments turn out to be the schemes of retail parks delivered in secondary cities, where the price of land is lower compared to the top ten cities. These new retail parks have attracted the most successful retailers on the market, attentive to expansion and new opportunities for penetration in medium and small towns in the country”, stated Doinita Ilie, Retail Consultant, Fortim Trusted Advisors, member of the BNP Paribas Real Estate Alliance.
This kind of investments offers more flexibility, a short term of the construction, and a smaller initial investment for the developers.
In Romania, this new retail park format has grown faster as a share of the total modern commercial spaces compared to Poland. In Romania, retail parks have reached a market share of 42%, malls have decreased to 53%, shopping galleries are at 4%, and outlet centers are at only 1%, at the end of the first half of 2022.
“In Romania, the total stock of spaces in the segment of retail parks will exceed the supply of commercial spaces located in shopping malls if developers continue on the same path. Investors have announced projects totaling over 500,000 sqm over the next three years, most of which retail parks”, stated Nicolae Ciobanu, Managing Partner – Head of Advisory Fortim Trusted Advisors, member of the BNP Paribas Real Estate Alliance.
In 2022, the key developers in the retail parks segment are Prime Kapital, NEPI Rockcastle, Scallier Investments, Oasis Retail Development & Consulting, Mitiska REIM, Iulius Group, Synergy Construct, Impact Developer & Contractor, and Supernova.