Only two shopping malls were completed in the first nine months of 2011 in the major Polish cities, both in Szczecin namely Galeria Kaskada and CH Turzyn.

Retail space delivered during this time amounted to 320 000 m2, most of which (52%) in towns of less than 200 000 inhabitants.

The lack of new completions in the largest cities is the result of decisions made by developers in the years 2006 to 2008. At that time most developers had shifted their interest towards secondary and tertiary towns, where competition was very limited, construction costs lower and local authorities looked favourably upon the development of new retail schemes.

This trend is now reversing. In 2012, some 32% of the 900 000 m2 of retail space planned for completion will be located in towns of more than 300 000 inhabitants. In 2013 the share of new retail space in the largest cities will grow to around 60%. Thus of over 1.7 million m² of retail space planned for completion in 2013 will be delivered in towns of more than 200 000 inhabitants.  At the same time the smaller towns will have experienced saturation point. Neither population size nor local purchasing power will support the completion of more than two or three retail projects per town.

The size of shopping centers will also grow from an average of 18 500 m2 in 2011 to 25 000 m² in 2012 and 37 000 m² in 2013.

Existing and planned retail space is presented in the chart below.