The key trend in retail real estate in Ukraine in 2025 is the mass construction of retail parks. This format, which turned out to be a good alternative to shopping centers, was tasted in the world many years ago, but until now it has bypassed Ukraine. Several retail parks, however, appeared near Kyiv back in 2019 and 2021. However, it has not yet become a mass phenomenon in Ukraine, as in the USA, France, Italy or Spain, where networks of thousands of facilities for car buyers have rapidly increased their shares in the total volume of retail space. The situation changed only during the war, when they stopped building large SECs and there was a need for rapid construction of retail facilities in the suburbs of megacities and small towns.

Retail parks: why it is profitable to build them during the war

However, the boom in retail parks did not accidentally appear during the war. “This is not all from a good life. We should not forget that there is a lack of investment in large shopping centers today. In fact, we should have had retail parks for a long time – like in Europe, where chains with 10-15 thousand objects enter even small villages. But before, our retail was not interested in this,” – explains in a comment to Delo.ua, the director of UTG company Evgenia Loktionova.

In fact, retail parks are much simpler structures compared to SECs. “This is a line of stores, that is, connected boxes, entrance groups to the facade and parking. There is no centralized ventilation system or air conditioning. Here you spend 2.5 times less on construction than on shopping centers,” – she explained.

Usually, large tenants are placed on such objects and stable contracts are signed for 5 years, said the director of UTG company. Rental rates are much lower than in SECs – $5-7 per square meter. Due to the stable flow and stable tenants, the funds are returned faster.

“The payback period in retail parks is 6-7 years, depending on the location, tenant and traffic. In contrast, the payback period in a shopping center starts at 10-11 years, that is, twice as long,” Loktionova emphasized. In any case, the appearance of professional retail space in the western regions is a big plus, they previously suffered from a shortage of SECs, the expert added.

Nevertheless, Ukrainian retail parks are essentially different from European or American ones, which are more focused on wealthy villages. “In the classical theory, retail parks appeared only where the population outside the city had a high level of prosperity. Ukraine has never had so many rich people outside the city. But large cities had suburbs with a high level of prosperity. Today we see that Bucha and Irpin have become so densely built up that it is necessary to build not retail parks, but classic SECs there. The problem is that such locations were previously of no interest to developers or retailers, but the war changed everything,” Vitaliy Boyko, CEO of Urban Experts & Leslie Jones Architecture and NAI Ukraine, explained in a comment to Delo.ua.

In Ukraine, according to him, they have only now realized that the standard of living outside the city is increasing, at least in safer regions, which is why small retail facilities of 4-8 thousand sq. meters with 15 tenants are appearing.

Now, at the points of the highest traffic, including tourist traffic, there will be not just an ATB supermarket, but a retail park, which will create a full-fledged infrastructure point at this location, offering retail space for businesses and services related to people’s daily needs.

“This is a very smart step that should have been taken about 20 years ago,” Boyko believes.

According to experts, the number of retail parks in Ukraine will grow in the coming years, it is possible that Ukraine will follow the Polish path, where in recent years more retail parks have been opened than SECs.

Retail parks: what is it and how does it differ from a SEC

The biggest advantage of a retail park is that shoppers from the suburbs do not need to drive into the city for daily shopping.

Unlike classic SECs, retail parks are usually located on the ground floor, often right next to gas stations, offering wide parking areas and a quick shopping process without having to go through the labyrinths of the building – traffic through the SEC is formed for the greatest coverage of galleries and really takes a lot of time.

Accordingly, retail parks have many significant advantages compared to shopping centers: for shoppers from the suburbs, this is 15-minute accessibility (on foot or by car) and less time spent on shopping, for retailers – lower rental rates and service fees and flexibility of retail space.

There are advantages for developers as well, because building parks is much more budget-friendly, does not require additional safety measures and complex engineering, and the payback is much faster, said Roman Kurytsky, founder of Building development, in his speech at RAU EXPO 2025.

The flexibility and modularity of the format is also important – easy redevelopment or expansion depending on market demand. The combination of formats – the ability to integrate supermarkets, drugstores, discounters, fast fashion, drive-through, etc.

That is why, in his opinion, in wartime conditions, the retail park format in Ukraine is optimal. In addition, the turnover in the suburbs of megacities is growing exponentially. “Sofiivska Borshchahivka, Chabany, Novoselky, Bucha, Irpin, Vyshgorod – a lot of new residential complexes have appeared here, a lot of young people live there. So today it is more difficult to trade near the metro than in the suburban area,” Kurytsky emphasized.

The best proof of the model’s effectiveness, in his opinion, is the results of the work of “Retail Park Bucha”, which opened in December 2021, and although it suffered in the first months of the war from the Russian occupation, it quickly rebuilt and now demonstrates the best performance in terms of turnover and vacancy. Today, the entire area of ​​the park – 13 thousand sq. meters – has zero vacancy, with an average indicator of retail facilities on the Kyiv market of 13%.

The key to the success of the retail park model, according to Kurytsky, is the synergy of needs and the range of services provided. In other words, the set of goods and services must take into account the daily interests of the community in order to attract a mass buyer. And the wider the range of services, the better.

“In Bucha, we set up an anchor – a supermarket, household appliances, a pharmacy, a wine store, fashion and drogerie stores, a pet store. We also opened “Rozetka” and “Nova Poshta”, which provide additional traffic. Additional services are provided by “Sportlife” and a clinic (2 thousand sq. m) – this is not a classic solution, but these services additionally provide another 10% and 12% of traffic,” Kurytskyi explained.