The fundamental changes taking place within Poland’s modern retail sector may accelerate even further. The changes in consumer behaviour come accompanied by the focus on the localness of life, a trend detected by numerous tenants that up until now would have opened their stores in shopping centres. The future will bring more investment in small retail parks and convenience centres meeting the everyday shopping needs of consumers. Tenants offering low-cost options will experience further undiminished growth. In turn, the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e. food and drink and entertainment and leisure, will be looking for new operation models. We will also see an increasing tendency to replace old retail formats, where the formula has now run its course, with new solutions combining several different functions. Moreover, modern technologies and their implementation in the operations of retail chains, which may sway the result as regards the operator’s ability to assume the best position in the fight for consumers’ wallets in the time of structural changes, will also be of great importance
Fabrice Paumelle, Head of Retail CEE, BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland