The location and the commercial offer are the most important criteria taken into consideration by parents visiting shopping centres with children – these are the main conclusions from the research conducted by Colliers International in cooperation with the Polish Council of Shopping Centres (PRCH) and Ariadna (research agency) in the eight biggest Polish agglomerations in terms of shopping centre child-friendliness.

Forum Gdańsk opened its doors officially to the public. This modern urban shopping destination is situated in the inner city of Gdańsk and offers 62,000 sqm GLA of retail, a multi-screen cinema, leisure facilities, restaurants and 1,100 parking spaces. Forum Gdańsk also includes a boutique hotel and the multi-functional Gdańsk Heritage Centre. The centre boasts a new public transport hub and is adjacent to the main railway station, the Old Town and key municipal buildings. Multi Poland, part of Multi Corporation, the Gdańsk municipal authorities and PKP Polish Railways cooperated on this major project. Multi developed the project and is responsible for the management of Forum Gdańsk. The total investment, including road infrastructure development, was approximately €194 million.

Preliminary data has revealed an increase in shopping centre footfall on Thursdays, Fridays and Mondays, and a decrease on Saturdays. Cushman & Wakefield presented a summary of the first quarter of 2018 on the Polish retail market in its latest report.

Kiddo Play Academy, a company which specializes in family entertainment, will open its second playground in Bucharest on the 1st of June, on an area of approximately 1,200 sqm in ParkLake Shopping Center. The leasing negotiations were conducted by Colliers International Romania.

Neinver opened Prague The Style Outlets, its first outlet centre in the Czech Republic and the 16th centre in the company’s expanding portfolio, which totals 300,000 sqm of gross leasable area (GLA). The centre features over 100 stores in 20,000 sqm of GLA. The new centre is part of a joint venture between Neinver and The Prague Outlet signed in 2016 to create the largest outlet centre in the Czech Republic, with a total investment of €70 million. A second phase will increase the total commercial space to 30,000 sqm in the coming years. The outlet centre will bring over 600 jobs and considerable tourist spending to the local economy.

JLL and the city of Warsaw will begin a cooperation to establish a development strategy for downtown trade, highlighting places with the greatest potential for creating new shopping locations as well as increasing the attractiveness of high streets for both potential tenants and customers. JLL already has a similar experience in this field - experts from the company are responsible for management of the Regent Street in London.

Owners Meyer Bergman and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan have put Ostrava’s Forum Nová Karolina shopping centre on sale, Hospodářské noviny reports.

NEPI Rockcastle is investing €3.5 million in refurbishing the food court and entertainment area in Bucharest's Mega Mall shopping centre. The project, designed by Corvin Cristian Studio, targets an area of 10,000 square meters.

The construction works of Etele Plaza has begun next to the Kelenföld railway station at the western gate of Budapest. As Futureal Group’s latest commercial development, the shopping and entertainment centre with a gross building area of 155,000 square meters will be the biggest of its kind on the Buda side of the city. The mall, combining unique architectural solutions and digital services will feature more fashion brands in one place than any other shopping centre in Hungary.

ECE plans to develop a new shopping centre in Budapest. The project area is located in the North-western part of the Hungarian capital, close to the Danube River, on the site of a former textile factory in the Óbuda district. It is planned to have over 170 shops on three levels and a leasable area of more than 50,000 sqm. Construction start for the project is scheduled for 2019, and the opening is planned for 2021.