From the map of Polish cities, places that for years were synonymous with modernity and convenience are disappearing. Over the past decade, about 50 shopping centres have closed, and more face a similar fate. Instead of marble floors and shop windows, apartments, offices and community spaces are being built. The era of giant shopping malls is coming to an end.
For the past two decades, shopping malls were the showpieces of Polish cities. Built on a grand scale with marble floors and wide walkways, they attracted crowds of customers who treated them not only as places to shop but also as spaces for socialising and entertainment. Today, this model has exhausted itself. Changing consumer habits, the growth of e-commerce and rising operational costs have forced shopping centre owners to redefine their function.
Over the past ten years, about 50 shopping centres with a total area of nearly 900,000 square metres have been withdrawn from the market. In their place, new housing estates, office buildings or multifunctional spaces combining different functions are being built. One in three modern retail facilities in Poland has been operating for over two decades, and of the nearly 14 million square metres of modern retail space, as much as 4.5 million square metres are facilities over 20 years old. This is a huge stock that requires urgent decisions.
The year 2025 was a turning point for the Polish retail market. According to CBRE analysis, 590,000 square metres of new retail space were delivered that year, of which as much as 90 percent were retail parks. Developers are increasingly turning their attention to smaller towns, while traditional shopping malls face their biggest challenge in years. The market is already saturated, and owners of older facilities must decide whether to modernise, change the function of the buildings or prepare them for demolition.
A wave of demolitions sweeps Polish cities
The most radical scenario being implemented by mall owners is a complete change of land use. In Warsaw, Poznan and Wroclaw, former shopping centres are being replaced mainly by large residential projects, often adding hundreds or even thousands of new apartments. An example is Gdansk’s Alfa Centrum, which operated from 2002. The property was purchased by Euro Styl from the Dom Development Group – the gallery in its current form will disappear, and in its place about 700 apartments will be built, complemented by service premises and publicly accessible spaces. The very fact that the site of a shopping centre in such a location is being primarily allocated for residential use is telling.
This is not an isolated case. A wave of demolitions and transformations is taking place across Poland. Owners of older facilities today have three options: modernisation, which allows the retail function to be maintained and the technical standard to be raised; conversion, which means changing the building’s purpose; or complete demolition and construction of new development. More and more decision-makers are choosing the second and third options, believing that maintaining an outdated mall in its current form is unprofitable. The trend of redevelopment is set to intensify, reshaping Polish cities and accelerating the development of urban planning focused on residential construction.
From shopping to experiences. Malls are becoming centres of services and entertainment
Not all malls are doomed, however. Those that choose to transform undergo a deep metamorphosis, becoming multifunctional urban hubs that combine retail with culture, sport, medicine and even psychological support. The modern mall is a place where you can not only shop but also take advantage of free psychological help, work in a co-working zone or drop off items at a less waste point.
An example of a successful transformation is Lodz’s Manufaktura, which for 20 years has proven that a shopping centre can become a city’s tourist showcase. Thanks to the revitalisation of Izrael Poznanski’s empire, the facility combines a quarter of a thousand boutiques with three museums, a theatre and a market square serving as an urban plaza. Silesia City Center in Katowice was built on the grounds of a former mine, and a chapel was opened in the historic engine room, which still serves worshippers today.
The new functions of malls go far beyond the traditional understanding of retail. More and more facilities offer medical points – chains such as Medic Express are developing outlets in malls, responding to the need to visit a doctor while shopping. Free co-working zones in Galeria Mlociny and Galeria Katowicka attract freelancers and remote workers. The most significant change is the entry of malls into the social sphere – centres such as Galeria Jurajska in Czestochowa and Galeria Metropolia in Gdansk offer free psychological help for children and young people. The key to the survival of older facilities is modernisation, expansion of Food Hall zones and the introduction of entertainment functions such as climbing walls and modern fitness clubs.
Europa Centralna in Gliwice goes green. Parking among trees and rain gardens
One of the largest modernisation projects in Poland is the transformation of the Europa Centralna Retail Park in Gliwice. The investors have opted for a green revolution – instead of a sea of asphalt, customers will soon park among trees, rain gardens and flower meadows. The entire car park surface will be redesigned to be not only functional but also aesthetically pleasing. Regularly spaced trees will provide shade, lowering surface temperatures in the warmer months, and green flowerbeds between parking spaces will make the surroundings friendly and orderly.
A key element of the green revolution will be rain gardens – natural plant compositions that intelligently manage rainwater. The solution eliminates the problem of water accumulation on the car park surface and provides more comfortable movement around it. Rain gardens also serve as natural water reservoirs, supporting the irrigation of greenery during drought periods, which are becoming increasingly frequent in conditions of climate warming. The completion of the reconstruction is planned for the end of 2026.
New strategy: omnichannel and active management
The success of shopping malls in the new reality depends on the ability of owners to combine sales channels and actively manage their properties. Tomasz Gorski of NEPI Rockcastle emphasises that shopping centre owners must respond simultaneously to the digitalisation of retail, the development of e-commerce, omnichannel and demographic changes. It is not possible to focus exclusively on online retail or exclusively on in-store sales – these channels must be combined.
In practice, this means that malls must balance the interests of tenants and customers. Facilities must not be oversized relative to the local market, and the selection of tenants must be flexible and adapted to changing needs. Gemini Holding maintains vacancy rates at around 1 percent, focusing on a local approach. According to data from the Polish Council of Shopping Centres, since April 2025, turnover in shopping centres has been growing almost continuously year-on-year, showing that customers still willingly visit malls – provided they offer more than just shopping. The structure of space is changing – individual shops are occupying larger areas, while the number of boutiques is decreasing.
Europe follows Poland’s lead. From malls to innovation campuses
The trend of transforming shopping centres is not a purely Polish phenomenon. Across Europe, retail property owners are looking for new ways to utilise vacant spaces. The most spectacular example is Lisbon, where an unfinished shopping centre that stood abandoned for years has been transformed into the innovative Oriente Green Campus. The project, carried out by KPF and Saraiva+Associados, retained 91 percent of the original structure while adding more than 20,500 square feet of green space. The deep floor slabs designed for the mall were converted into flexible office and educational spaces. As John Bushell of KPF said, the aim was to „breathe new life into an unfinished shopping centre and transform it into a knowledge-based economy hub – this is the ultimate form of carbon reuse in construction”.
In Sweden, in Eskilstuna, there is a shopping centre that does not sell a single new product – the entire assortment comes from second-hand sources. This shows that the future of shopping centres can take various forms, but one thing remains certain: homogeneous malls with identical sets of shops are unable to meet new consumer requirements. Success in 2026 will be achieved by those facilities that can transform themselves from „places to buy” into „places to be”.
Fot. Pixabay
