Commercial Sociability
A recent report says that shopping malls are slowly supplanting the downtown area as a city's primary social space, and developers are increasing the leisure space in new retail centers to take advantage of this trend.
According to a recent survey conducted by TNS OBOP at the request of Cefic Polska, which operates several shopping centers in Poland, services not always connected with shopping activities are playing an increasingly visible role in retail centers. The report also says that the presence of shopping malls within a city is seen as a symbol of metropolitan status, and Polish society has readily adapted to the new generation of retail centers.
Investors in Poland have moved in line with European trends, and now develop facilities and services which are not directly connected with a customer's retail experience but rather provide an opportunity to relax within a shopping complex.
One example of a development where investors have put a strong emphasis on recreational and non-shopping facilities is Galeria Legnicka, currently under construction in Wrocław. Restaurants, entertainment, sports and cultural facilities will be located on 17,600 sqm, while the total retail space will consist of 74,000 sqm. The total space of the new Wrocław development will amount to over 240,000 sqm and over 23,400 sqm outside the complex will be dedicated to leisure and recreation activities.
"Planning the Wrocław investment, we wanted to create a project that would connect a trade-service offer with a recreational-entertainment offer," says Gilbert Boulanger, managing director of Redis, the developer of Galeria Legnicka.
Where is a city center?
In addition to the offer of leisure and recreation, a tendency to locate major shopping centers conveniently close to a city's downtown might soon lead to situation where the natural role of a city's heart would be supplanted by malls. Roman Skowroński, the portfolio director of Cefic Polska, said that the future of downtown areas depends on the municipal policy-makers who make decisions concerning its development.
"When cities' downtowns could no longer be further developed, shopping centers were introduced so that everything available in the city was gathered under one roof," says Skowroński. "At the beginning, such developments were located some distance from downtown areas. Currently, there is a tendency to locate them closer to a city center if suitable plots are available."
Not just for shopping
The TNS OBOP report highlights the fact that shopping malls increasingly define a metropolis' lifestyle and that non-shopping facilities help to increase that tendency. Skowroński says this is why it is hard to imagine that any investor interested in developing a shopping complex would limit non-shopping services and areas.
"This trend will just keep growing, because every investor wants to organize its shopping center so that the customer would like to spend as much time there as possible," said Skowroński. "Of course, it would include shopping activities, but also leisure and entertainment."
In Warsaw, the traditional downtown shopping district is demarcated by ul. więtokrzyska and Al. Jerozolimskie, Al. Marszałkowska and ul. Nowy wiat. "These streets are lifeless, but this is a natural place to develop a downtown shopping district," says Agata Mikołajczyk, a spokesperson for DTC Real Estate, which operates department stores located within city centers. Mikołajczyk says that to allow the development of Warsaw's city center it should be transformed into pedestrianized downtown shopping areas.
"The downtown revitalization should include not only street renovations, but it should bring critical mass into Warsaw's downtown," says Mikołajczyk. "DTC does what it can to bring more people back to the downtown area. One such example is Pasaż Wiecha in Warsaw, which might help ul. Chmielna develop. Currently, the customer does not have a big choice because shopping malls offer everything that consumers want, while the city cannot really provide all of that."
Safer lifestyles?
A low concentration of shops is not the only reason that people tend to choose shopping centers over downtown areas. According to the TNS OBOP survey, every 10th respondent saw a visit to a shopping mall as the most popular way to spend free time. The desire for entertainment, which could mean a visit to the cinema or coffee with friends, was one of the most common reasons why people went to such centers.
Magdalena Sawińska, a sociologist from TNS OBOP, says that people feel safe in shopping malls, something downtown areas frequently cannot provide. As the survey shows, people feel more secure due to the high volume of people, the presence of security and bright lighting.
"A visit to a shopping mall is not always dictated by a need to consume, since not all of its clients focus on the purchasing of goods," says Sawińska. These 'customers', especially youths, visit shopping malls quite often, but rather than shop they head to the cinema, congregate or just walk and look at people.
"Shopping centers have been present in Poland for some time and customers are familiar with their offer," says Sawińska. "It is not that visiting a shopping center is just cool and therefore people visit them. A new phase has begun and people go there to spend time because it is simply something that they enjoy and which suits them."
