Despite the pandemic triumph of e-commerce, customers are not giving up on shopping in brick-and-mortar shops. Brands wanting to benefit from the synergy of these channels implement innovative formats and compete for customers' attention with technology and environmentally friendly products. However, retail parks and convenience centres continue to enjoy popularity among investors and developers, says JLL.

Portico Investments has purchased a new Profi store in Bucharest, in a bid to expand its Romanian portfolio. 

Czech-Dutch investment company Fidurock has commenced the construction of the second phase of the Staré Město retail park project. The extension will expand the current 4,100 sqm building with 500 sqm.

International retailer Primark has announced the opening of its first store in Romania as part of an expansion bid in Central and Eastern Europe. The new store will start operations towards the end of this year and will be located in Bucharest-based ParkLake Shopping Centre, owned by Sonae Sierra.

Żabka Group is now the largest chain of autonomous stores in Europe after launching 25 AI-powered stores called Żabka Nano. The concept enables quick shopping without checkout clerks, queues, or cash to sell products precisely matched to location and customer demographics. The stores operate in several formats such as standalone container-based vending machines, traditional brick-and-mortar and store-within-a-store points of sale; each leveraging AI-powered computer vision technology created through close cooperation with American technology company AiFi.

At the end of 2020, Porto Montenegro presented to the public its long-awaited project – the innovative, urban-style neighbourhood of Boka Place. The carefully planned space blends gastronomy, shopping and entertainment with many other benefits, available to Porto Montenegro residents as well as to more than 3.1 million visitors coming each year.

B+N Referencia Zrt, as the winner of a tender announced last year, has been awarded with a contract for the provision of cleaning services at the Václav Havel Airport in Prague for another 4 years, starting on 1st January 2022. There were another 12 competitor in the tender, B+N was the only Hungarian headquaterd company.

Austrian furniture retailer Mömax will develop a new store on a land of 37,000 sqm located in Cartier Coresi – the mixed-use scheme developed by Ceetrus and managed by Nhood Romania in Brașov. 

Fashion Outlet Slovenia is being developed by HG Invest in cooperation with FOC Retail Service GmbH and Outlet Evolution Services. On an area of more than 20,000 sqm, 70 shops and several hundred new jobs will be created in two phases. The first phase will be opened in 2023 with phase two scheduled for 2026, ACROSS Magazine reports.

The Czech retail market and physical retail segment remain attractive for retail brands, as the arrival of 38 new international brands last year confirms: this is the highest number in the last three years. This means a 52% year-on-year increase over the 25 new brands arriving in 2020, according to Cushman & Wakefield.