Cushman & Wakefield has summarised the situation on the Polish retail market. The opening of 2024 is encouraging and new retail space supply in the coming months is likely to match or even surpass last year’s total. The Polish market continues to attract interest from new brands, borne out by several debuts. More arrivals are expected to follow amid improving retail sales, rising shopping centre footfall and turnover levels as inflation is weakening.

More than 60% of Polish consumers do their larger grocery shopping in excess of PLN 100 in discount stores. A similar proportion of people in Poland opt for shopping centres on account of their entertainment offer, while nearly 40% go to retail parks which they value for familiarity with space layouts - a guarantee of a quick and easy shopping trip. According to the latest report from Cushman & Wakefield, Polish people have clearly defined expectations about each retail format, with each likely to respond to different shopping and other needs.

After four years of a pandemic-induced disruption it is now clear that although hybrid working is not the dominant pattern, it is here to stay. New research from Cushman & Wakefield has found that 27% of Polish people combine in-office attendance with home office, whereas that figure for cities with a population of over 500,000 stands at 36%. Meanwhile, employers and property managers keep looking for ways to incentivise employees to come to the office more frequently. Employees working hybrid schedules value the office particularly for well-equipped spaces for focused work and for fostering collaboration and relationship building, reveals the report from Cushman & Wakefield. At the same time, 47% of respondents are against being mandated to work a fixed number of in-office days.