It has been a while since the first modern retail space was opened in Bucharest back in 1999 and since then, the rhythm of development has been alert, reaching more than 1.7 million sqm in 2008. The largest share of modern retail space in Romania is for sure located in Bucharest.

The unbalance in geographical spread of retail space is mainly caused by the gap in economic development between Romanian regions. Having higher income levels and a more sophisticated customer behaviour, Bucharest is the largest market for modern retail and with so many offers at hand is the most attractive area to invest in shopping centres.

In terms of size most shopping centres in Romania are relatively small, the large and the very large ones are found only in Bucharest and in a few other large cities. As most of us like the sound of the words “the bigger the better” the same principle is applied in retail investments,where a larger space means more return possibilities, namely more money.

Nonetheless, as size does matter and location too, there are different types of shopping centres worth investing in, but first let us look into the matter closely and figure out what does each type account for. Basically there are four as follows:

Neighbourhood centres  are  the ones meant  to provide convenience shopping for the daily needs of consumers living nearby or in neighbouring areas. In this case the core of the shopping centre is a supermarket or a pharmacy.

Community centres are those centres offering a wider range of commodities (including clothing and other goods) than neighbourhood centres, which might also include off-price retailers and a wider variety of supplies.

Regional centres provide general merchandise and services in full variety. Plus, their main point of attraction are their anchors: traditional, mass merchant, discount department stores or fashion speciality stores. (an anchor being the store, usually the largest, that attracts most of the customers)
Super-regional centres refer to those similar to regional, but because they are larger in size, they have more anchors, higher merchandise diversity and they address a larger customer base.

Power centres are centres dominated by a number of large anchors, including discount and off-price stores, warehouse clubs and others. This type of centre typically consists of several unconnected anchors and only a minimum amount of small speciality tenants.

In general, neighbourhood and community centres occupy approximately 50% of the total space available for retail as they have a wider geographical spread than the other types.However, the number of power centres (16%) taking in account all regions of the country, rose in recent years.The first two types are predominant in most regions, an exception being ,the Southern area, where Bucharest distorts the picture with its superregional and regional centres.

As this is a thing far from surprising ,(Bucharest has 4 times as many inhabitants as the 2nd largest city), the only wise decission to take is to invest in superregional centres. But due to a number of key developments in recent years, power centres have also spread and prove to be another successful investment.

Real estate investors are in all the respects selective and prefer high quality projects in dominant locations, which ensure profitable busineess if you find yourself among them refine your search on : http://businesses-properties.com/shopping-center-on-sale-in-bucharest-romania/.