More than 150 retail brand representatives gathered in record numbers at NEPI Rockcastle’s flagship annual Retailers Day in Zagreb, Croatia, to meet the Group’s leasing teams in the most recent edition of the touchstone event for analysing consumer trends in the Central and Eastern European markets.
Under the theme “Spreading Our Wings, Elevating Retail Together,” the event highlighted how collaboration across landlords, retailers and communities is essential to unlock the next stage of retail growth. The concept captures the sector’s current trajectory: a move towards more agile formats, deeper data-driven insights, and stronger partnerships that enable sustainable expansion across multiple markets.
NEPI Rockcastle, with 60 properties across eight countries valued at €8.2 billion, is the premier retail real estate market leader in CEE – a region which experienced 13.2% annual growth in purchasing power in 2025, far outpacing the average for the EU as a whole.
Marek Noetzel, CEO of NEPI Rockcastle, said in his opening address to the Retailers Day forum: “We are actively pursuing growth — organically through development and refurbishments, and also through potential new acquisitions.”
A redefined Promenada Mall Bucharest
Marius Barbu, COO, then took the stage to reel off the numbers the retailers in the room are experiencing in their sales turnover in NEPI Rockcastle’s shopping centres every day: 354 million visits across the portfolio in 2025, with an over 8% increase in individual basket spend on a stable footfall.
Barbu said NEPI Rockcastle’s €845 million development and refurbishment programme was on schedule and budget to underpin future growth, with the ‘jewel in the crown,’ the €300 million Bucharest Promenada Mall extension mixed-use development due for completion in April 2027.
Ramona Marusac, Regional Head of Leasing, updated the forum on the status of the Promenada Mall extension, the largest and most exciting retail-anchored project in the CEE region.
Bucharest continues to strengthen its position as a leading retail and lifestyle destination, with purchasing power in Romania’s capital around 4% above the national average. The Promenada Mall currently hosts 166 tenants across 39,000 sqm of retail space, with the major transformation underway, expanding the total retail space to 69,000 sqm and adding office and hospitality components within a fully integrated mixed-use environment.
Promenada Mall is set to redefine customer experience through an enhanced tenant mix and new experience-driven concepts, by creating a comprehensive lifestyle destination.
CEE Remains Resilient in the Face of Economic and Geopolitical Headwinds
ING Bank’s Valentin Tătaru (Chief Economist, Romania) and Bert Colijn (Chief Economist, The Netherlands) highlighted that while geopolitical pressures are creating economic headwinds, consumer demand across CEE is proving surprisingly resilient — anchored by the strong performance in Poland and the Czech Republic. Long-term real wage growth and rising household purchasing power remain powerful structural tailwinds for the region.
Looking at European economic performance over the past six years, most markets have continued to demonstrate solid growth with sustained investment supporting activity at a macro level. From a consumer perspective, unemployment remains comparatively low in the United States, while higher savings rates leave households in a relatively resilient financial position.
“AI is the thing to watch-interesting times are ahead for those who stay focused,” Bert Colijn concluded.
How Retailers Can Spread Their Wings in CEE Markets
Justyna Bartosz, Group Leasing Director, laid out to the forum how the NEPI Rockcastle platform supports retailer growth across eight CEE markets through expansion paths tailored to each brand’s strategy, supported by a consistent commercial framework and transparent performance insights. With a portfolio vacancy at 1.2% and almost 1,500 leases signed within the portfolio in 2025, NEPI Rockcastle is creating new growth opportunities through active portfolio management. Early engagement and forward planning are decisive in how those opportunities in NEPI Rockcastle properties are secured, she said:
“Growth on our platform is increasingly driven by the early and collaborative sharing of plans and strategies between retailers and us.”
Arena Centar, Zagreb – A Textbook Study of Retail Growth
The 66,000 sqm GLA Arena Centar, just 10 minutes away from downtown Zagreb, is a classic example of NEPI Rockcastle’s growth optimisation strategy, the centre’s manager Nataša Milašinčić said.
NEPI Rockcastle acquired the Arena Centar in 2016, and active asset management has since driven a 123% increase in sales turnover, 11% growth in footfall, and a GLA expansion of nearly 21%. With an average basket spend 95% above the Southeast European regional mean, the centre exemplifies the Group’s value creation model. But NEPI Rockcastle hasn’t finished yet at Arena Centar, with the recent relocation and expansion of the centre’s food court to be followed by a new fashion corner extension featuring seven additional stores in the previous F&B space and due to open in October this year.
Media Marketing Platform Powerfully Amplifies Retail Brands
NEPI Rockcastle’s shopping centres attract nearly 10% of CEE’s roughly 100 million total population, offering brands in the region a very powerful media platform in its properties and online, Roxana Baias, Group Head of Marketing, told the Retailers Day forum.
“We run more than 1,200 events and campaigns a year in our properties, and we have invested heavily in digital marketing to create communities around NEPI Rockcastle shopping centres,” she said.
NEPI Rockcastle’s research provides deep insights into the tastes and retail activities of its visitors and online followers, identifying characteristics such as where they come from, or how long customers on average stay in its shopping centres.
The Evolution of Retail: AI, Hyper-Personalisation and Physical Retail’s Renaissance
Closing keynote speaker Sharon Gai (USA) drew on insights from China’s’ $19.4 trillion economy to argue that the future of physical retail is stronger, not weaker, in an AI-driven world. As AI enables the “hyper-personalisation” of shopping experiences and live-streaming drives purchasing decisions, physical retail is being reinvented as a destination for discovery, content and community — not displaced by e-commerce but amplified by it.
#StrongerTogether for the Croatian Music Institute
Continuing its tradition of community support, NEPI Rockcastle used the occasion of the Retailers Day to support the Croatian Music Institute, a historic cultural landmark founded in 1827 in the centre of Zagreb and currently undergoing major restoration following earthquake damage in 2020.
The company’s €5,000 donation — amplified by contributions from partners and guests — nearly doubled in value, demonstrating the collective impact of the Retailers Day community.
Retailers Day 2026 reaffirmed that CEE remains one of Europe’s most dynamic retail markets, where strong fundamentals, strategic investments and cross-industry collaboration continue to drive growth.
As the rare Alcon blue butterfly of Croatia, the forum’s logo symbolically embodies that success in today’s retail landscape depends on interconnected ecosystems — where landlords, retailers and communities evolve together.
