The great majority of shopping centres in the Czech Republic should reopen on Thursday 3 December. The footfall and revenue figures show that customers have not given up on visiting shopping centres in the long-term perspective or changed their shopping habits dramatically. Following the reopening after the first wave of the corona crisis, both performance indicators grew again, and revenue even exceeded last year’s figures in a year-on-year comparison. The impact on footfall and turnover was lower in the second wave, with footfall slightly growing in recent weeks. Considering that Christmas is coming, we can expect customers to return to shopping centres quickly as soon as they are allowed to, resulting in an exceptional increase in footfall and revenue.

Austrian retail investor Supernova has acquired the Jupiter City shopping centre in the Romanian city of Pitești from local company Mall Retail Rom, owned by Israeli concern Jupiter Group. The value of the transaction hasn't been disclosed, but the transaction was said to be "distressed" with a price estimated to be below €20 million.

In response to the current market challenges faced by landlords and brands, We Are Pop Up, the specialist international booking platform for pop-up retail spaces, has transformed its business model into a free-to-use service, abolishing all transaction fees for listings.

C2H, the company that owns the Kara and Pietro Filipi fashion stores in the Czech Republic, has recently emptied its 58 stores in the country to prevent landlords it owes rent to from seizing its inventory as security for payments.

The region’s largest shopping centre Galerija Belgrad will open on 30 October. With a total area of 300,000 sqm, Galerija Belgrade will offer local and international brands in one place, dozens of cafes and restaurants, two entertainment complexes, a cinema with the most advanced IMAX technology and as many as 3,600 parking places.

AFI Europe Romania has inaugurated its AFI Brasov mixed-use project on 21 October. The project, located near the city’s historic centre, includes a modern shopping centre with 45,000 sqm GLA and 15,000 sqm GLA of office space rising above the retail floors.

The share of internet sales has returned to near pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, Polish customers are more willing than before to turn to convenience shopping in smaller retail formats. JLL summarised conditions on Poland's retail market at the end of Q3 2020.

Etele Plaza, developed by Futureal in Budapest’s Kelenföld area, has reportedly reached an occupancy rate over 75%. The shopping centre, planned to be completed by Q3 2021, will feature every Inditex brand available in Hungary, including a Zara fashion store featuring a brand new design concept.

Czech investment group Portiva and Micronix have acquired the Central Kladno shopping centre in Brno from Crestyl for approximately €74.8 million (CZK 2 billion).

Developer Prime Kapital and investment partner MAS Real Estate have opened 33,000 sqm GLA Dâmboviţa Mall shopping centre in the city Târgoviște, 80 km northwest of Bucharest.