Square meters no longer define success in retail real estate, experience does. As consumer expectations shift from “places to shop” to “destinations worth visiting,” landlords must evolve into curators of ecosystems that blend retail, dining, leisure, sustainability, and digital innovation. From Lisbon’s UBBO shopping resort to Glasgow’s Silverburn community hub, Eurofund Group shows how future-proof assets are built: not by leasing space, but by creating experiences that make brands thrive, communities engage, and investments soar.
Manchester Arndale is delighted to welcome Scandinavian lifestyle retailer Søstrene Grene, which will open a 4,952 sq ft store at the North West’s leading retail destination.
The Auhof Center in Vienna is welcoming a brand new Peek & Cloppenburg store in the middle of October 2025, making it the 16th location within Austria.
The Dutch retailer and beauty brand has seen a steady global growth with demands for its unique products rising similarly. On the 17th of September, Rituals has reached a new milestone by opening its 1400th store in Budapest, Hungary, with huge success.
The share of private consumption allocated to retail – rather than savings, services, or leisure – continues to decline across the European Union. In 2024, this trend persisted for the third consecutive year, with EU citizens spending just 32.6 percent of their disposable income in retail. Croatia recorded the highest share, with nearly every second euro spent in retail. These insights come from a new, free study published today by NIQ Geomarketing, offering a comprehensive overview of retail trends across Europe.
Retail and tourism are merging, as malls transform into destinations where visitors seek experiences, not just products. From Dubai Mall to Mall of America, the world’s shopping centers are reinventing themselves with entertainment, digital services, and personalized journeys. With innovations like SmartGifty, even regional players such as BTC City Ljubljana are proving how digital gift cards, loyalty programs, and smart platforms can turn retail hubs into tourist magnets. The future of shopping is experiential, digital, and sustainable. And it’s already here.
The Vienna-based company CC Real is today among the most significant, albeit so far relatively low-profile, players in the European retail real estate market. In an interview with ACROSS, founders Fabian Kaufmann and Sven Vorih, describe the journey from their beginnings in Croatia to their current expansion strategies in Europe and Australia. The discussion covers experiences in times of crisis, strategic partnerships, refurbishment successes, and the question of why CC Real still firmly believes in the future of retail.
Innovation and the safeguarding of future success require conviction and values – ECE celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2025. This is more than just an anniversary: It is a commitment to continuous change and responsible business practices. ECE Marketplaces CEO Joanna Fisher, who has been with the company for nearly three decades, discusses the power of putting values into practice, her own journey from a working student to a top manager, and how true innovation can only be achieved through integrity and clarity.
“When the tenant thrives, the asset survives” is an old saying in retail real estate leasing management. But survival is only the baseline – the ambition must go further. Not just to “survive” – the asset should “fly.” But what will it take in 2025 for an asset to take off? For this cover story, we asked leading figures in the European retail real estate sector what they see as the most significant current challenges, as well as the solutions needed, for retail assets not just to survive but to prosper.
After just 15 months, the optimistic venture of Le Big TamTam in the Hanseviertel Hamburg, Germany, has come to an abrupt halt. The food court, launched in July 2024 with the promise of transforming a neglected basement rotunda into a vibrant gastronomic destination, is now closed, at least temporarily, as the management reassesses the concept.
Urban Outfitters has opened a new 745 sq m store in Metrocentre’s Red Mall, joining Zara, Mango, and Stradivarius after a record-breaking summer for fashion sales. The latest addition reinforces the centre’s status as the North East’s go-to destination for global brands.
RX France has announced the appointment of Nicolas Boffi as the new Director of MIPIM, the global urban festival. An engineer and urban planner by background, Boffi has over 20 years of experience in real estate and urban development, working across project management, business development and public affairs.
İnegöl Shopping Mall’s cultural and community-focused initiative, From Tradition to Future, has achieved global recognition, earning four Stevie Awards at the 22nd Annual International Business Awards. The project, developed and managed by Fiba Commercial Properties, received two Gold and two Silver awards, highlighting its impact on corporate responsibility and community engagement.
Sonae Sierra, a vertically integrated real estate company and a leading player in the European Shopping Center space, has signed an agreement with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield to acquire its German business unit dedicated to the management of shopping centers for third parties – Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Real Estate Management (“URW REM”). The transaction is subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities.
NEPI Rockcastle N.V., Europe’s third largest listed retail real estate company by portfolio value, achieved a 12.1% growth in NOI (net operating income) year-on-year in the first half (H1) of 2025 to €307 million as a result of the large acquisitions completed in 2024 and a continued improvement in the existing portfolio through active asset management, despite a challenging macroeconomic background.
At the upcoming Expo Real 2025 in Munich (October 6–8), retail real estate takes center stage: a redesigned layout in Hall B3 promises better visibility and connectivity, while keynote addresses and panel talks—including a session on AI‑powered customer loyalty—underscore the industry’s forward-looking agenda.
Austria-based developer SES Spar European Shopping Centers has launched construction of its latest project in Croatia: a modern retail park on the historic former Varteks textile factory site in Varaždin. Scheduled to open in 2027, the €28 million investment will include the region’s first Interspar hypermarket, 12 shops, restaurants, and services across 11,500 square meters.
ACROSS Magazine speaks with Giacomo Biraghi, co-founder of Stratosferica and one of the driving forces behind the Utopian Hours festival, a one-of-a-kind international gathering in Turin that reframes how cities are celebrated, studied, and shaped. In this interview, Biraghi discusses the ethos behind the event, its approach to urbanism, the evolving role of retail real estate, and how Turin is benefitting directly from this growing global platform.
Shoppers at around 40 Kaufland stores in Germany can now pick up, send, and return parcels from multiple courier services thanks to new myflexbox parcel stations that are part of a plan to expand to 300 locations by 2026.
Spanish fashion brand Stradivarius opens its first store in Saarland, boosting Saarbrücken’s city-center shopping appeal.
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