NEPI Rockcastle, the biggest owner and developer of shopping centres in CEE by market value, said its net operating income soared by 17% to a record of €405 million compared to 2021 over strong tenant turnover and base rental growth.

Apart from remodelling the food court, a 10% extension is planned in this centrally located retail complex. This is the biggest change in the life of Westend shopping centre, managed by Granit Polus. The company has not disclosed the size of the investment.

The end of the year for retail real estate in Poland was marked by a rise in inflation and the various consequences that followed it, increases in energy prices and the effects of the war in Ukraine.

With 17 new brands entering the Romanian market in 2022 and the opening of 11 new retail parks, the total stock of retail projects came close to 4.1 million sqm. On this backdrop, new opportunities appear in the market for developers as the available commercial spaces are mostly rented and the vacancy rate is 3% in malls and even lower in retail parks, according to CBRE.

The Kaufland Marketplace will go live in Slovakia on February 15. Under the domain Kaufland.sk, online sellers will then have another sales channel than Germany available to them. The Kaufland Marketplace will also be launched in the Czech Republic in a few months. The marketplaces will be managed via the all-in-one solution Kaufland Global Marketplace, the company announced.

Cushman & Wakefield has taken over the management of a portfolio of three shopping centres and one retail park in the Czech Republic. Hungarian investment group Adventum Group bought this portfolio from Tesco last year in a unique transaction involving 18 retail projects across the CEE region. Cushman & Wakefield assisted its long-standing client Tesco in the sale and is now managing and exclusively leasing 50,000 sqm of retail in the Czech Republic space for Adventum.

The most successful outlet centres in Europe have a new leader. Cheshire Oaks, located south of Liverpool in the industrial town of Ellesmere Port, is the second English centre to top the list of the most successful outlet centres in Europe. Until now, this rank in England was reserved for Bicester Village, which is located near the university city of Oxford as well as the tourist attraction Stonehenge. This is a result of the "Outlet Centre Performance Report Europe" (OCPRE), which has been updated annually since 2008 and whose latest edition has just been published. The third place has been taken by Designer Outlet Warsaw in Piaseczno near the Polish capital.

Fashion House Group will start in the second quarter of this year the construction of the second phase of Fashion House Outlet Centre Pallady, which is located in the eastern part of Bucharest. 

Victoria's Secret's first "real" Czech store - so far an outlet has only operated at Prague's airport - is to open in Prague’s Westfield Chodov shopping centre in May this year, Cushman & Wakefield announced.

According to a Cushman & Wakefield report, the retail real estate sector saw the continued expansion of retail parks in 2022, accounting for 70% of new supply delivered to the market. Despite many challenges related to inflation and general economic uncertainty, 14 new brands made their debut in Poland during the year. However, the next few months may experience a downturn in consumer sentiment, with lower retail sales, and in turn, reduced turnover for retail tenants.