A mere six new retail parks totaling just 18,000 sqm of retail space are expected to come on-line in the Czech Republic this year, a considerable fall from the last year’s 14 parks across 40,000 sqm, according to Jiří Kristek of Cushman & Wakefield. With 78 sqm of retail park space per 1,000 inhabitants, the market is saturated, and developers are looking for opportunities in towns with less than 10,000 inhabitants, such as Úvaly, Nehvizdy or Šestajovice in Central Bohemia. Expansion into smaller towns has influenced the size of new parks, which have dropped from 5,000 sqm to 2,500 sqm over the last few years. The tenant mix has changed as well, with larger names, such as JYSK or KIK, looking at other formats. Drugstores, pet shops, pharmacies are the main tenants, with banks, insurance companies, restaurants and cafes now coming into the mix.
