The first year of the pandemic brought many lessons for all entrepreneurs and business executives. With plans and expectations upside down, many companies have had to adapt to new realities, regardless of the field. One of the big winners of the crisis was retail park operators that now plan heavy expansion in the coming years. Property Forum takes a look at Romania’s retail park pipeline.

Etele Plaza has obtained its occupancy permit which means tenants can start building their new stores in the largest shopping centre in the Buda side of Budapest. Developed by Futureal, with an investment value of €300 million and a leasable area of 55,000 square meters, the environmentally friendly building will open its doors in September 2021.

Polish company Scallier has announced that 70% of available space has been leased in its first retail park under the Funshop Park brand in Romania.

Lidl Serbia plans to start the construction of a new, 60,000 sqm logistics canter in Lapovo, a city located approximately halfway between Belgrade and Nis on the A1 highway, in the coming months, local media reports.

There were no new completions on Zagreb’s retail market in H2 2020 but a number of brands have opened new stores, according to a market report by Cushman & Wakefield | CBS International Croatia.

Internationally expanding Hungarian company Indotek Group is looking at new investment opportunities on the Romanian market. Florin Tirla, Country Head Romania & Bulgaria at Indotek Group talked to Property Forum about the company’s plans and shared his expectations for the future of the office and retail markets.

On February 25, 2021 the 7,000th store of Żabka chain was opened. The facility is located in the town of Biecz in Lesser Poland. 

NEPI Rockcastle has published its condensed consolidated financial results for 2020, according to which the retail landlord’s net rental and related income was €323 million last year, 19.4% lower than in 2019.

Commercial real estate players in Romania will be inclined to conclude contracts for shorter periods than before the pandemic, as almost 80% of owners, developers and investors in this field consider contractual adjustments and flexibility to be the main attributes that will count for tenants and end-users when the health crisis ends, according to Deloitte Romania Commercial Real Estate Survey 2021.

Swedish furniture group Ikea is set to open its first store in Slovenia in Ljubljana today. To ensure a safe shopping experience and avert long queues in front of the store, Ikea has mandated advanced bookings for in-person shopping in the first weeks following the opening. The number of visitors is capped at 700 with Ikea estimating that they will spend roughly two hours on average browsing around the store.