Panattoni Europe, Poland’s leader in industrial real estate, is to build a distribution and online store service centre for SMYK. The facility, which will feature 70,000 sqm at full build-out, will be erected at the Panattoni Central European Logistics Hub in Łódź. The investment will be launched in early January and will proceed in a number of phases. The first 26,000 sqm is scheduled for commissioning in June 2018. The lease transaction was mediated by consulting JLL, consulting agency.
Smyk is 40 years old – it opened its doors in December 1977 in Warsaw and quickly became a popular and eagerly visited place. Over the years it steadily strengthened its position in the domestic market, but the real breakthrough came in 2000, when the company started expanding by opening new stores in the major cities of Poland. The first SMYK Megastore was opened in 2010, and in 2011 the company launched its online store. Its ever-growing popularity has contributed to the fact that the company is entering its fifth decade in the market with a new online order fulfilment centre.
“The dynamic growth in online sales pushed forward our decision to go ahead with the new logistics centre to service this channel. By nearly tripling our current space we will be able to increase the number of customers and orders processed, and also to expand our product range and improve its availability. In our decision-making process, we took into account the facility’s growth potential, its location, distance from courier hubs and the central warehouse. Other factors which figured strongly was the location within the Łódź city limits and the existing transport connections,” said Michał Janikowski, Supply Chain Director at Smyk Group.
“Panattoni Europe specializes in delivering advanced facilities dedicated to businesses involved in e-commerce. This is because we respond fast to market needs, and today these tend to be connected with selling over the internet,” commented Marek Dobrzycki, Managing Director Panattoni Europe, adding: “Tenant needs cover many aspects – starting from the location through to the shape of the structure.”
Paulina Dziubińska, Associate Director, Industrial Agency, JLL: “The decision to launch a dedicated distribution center is a significant moment in Smyk’s history. We are glad that we had the opportunity to help at such a strategic moment for the company. The flexible solutions that we proposed to Smyk offered the company the prospect of dynamic growth in response to the needs of their customers and to fully benefit from the potential of e-commerce.”
The facility for SMYK will be built as part of the Panattoni Central European Hub – the largest logistics complex in Poland delivered by the developer, were already exists a warehouse for BSH Sprzęt Gospodarstwa Domowego with nearly 80,000 sqm. The hub is situated at ul. Jędrzejowska, right next to the A1 – the only Polish motorway running north-south. The hub is just 30 km away from the Łódź Północ junction, where the A1 and A2 motorways intersect. The perfect location in Central Poland with access to the intersection of the European east-west and north-south routes, as well as within administrative city limits, will facilitate the tenants’ domestic and international logistics, as well as making it fast and easy for employees to get to work.
