The Central Statistical Office (CSO) has released data on the Polish domestic market, including trade and grocery shops. According to the CSO’s report, the number of retail outlets fell by 1.6 % in 2022.

At the end of 2022, the estimated number of shops in Poland amounted to nearly 326,000 and was 5,100 lower than a year ago (- 1.6 % year-on-year). The sales area also decreased – by 1.1 % and amounted to a total of 38.55 million square metres.

The CSO highlights that the largest increase in sales area took place in shop formats between 400 and 999 sq m. There, 713,800 sq m of new space was added, representing an increase of 9.1 %. This range also saw the largest increase in the number of shops – by 3.9 %.

This should be attributed to the growth of discounters, which have the largest market share.

A significant increase in sales space was also observed in shops in the 1,000 sq m and above range. This number increased by 298.4 thousand sq.m, or 2.8% In contrast, the largest decrease in shop space of 556 thousand sq.m (by 3.7 %) was recorded in shops up to 99 sq.m, and a smaller decrease of 20.1 thousand sq.m (by 0.4 %) in shops in the 100-399 sq.m range.  This is, of course, related to the shrinking traditional trade in Poland and the increasingly rapid disappearance of small-format shops from the market.

Most retail space increase appeared in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship (by 9.2 %) and the Śląskie voivodship (by 2.5 %). The largest decrease was observed in shops located in the provinces of Małopolska (by 5.6 %), Warmińsko-Mazurskie (by 4.8 %), Dolnośląskie (by 2.3 %) and Łódzkie (by 2 %).

Among the 326,000 shops, as in previous years, the largest share was accounted for by establishments specialising in other industries (43 %), general food (22 %) and clothing (9.9 %). The least numerous were shops with a fish specialisation, which accounted for only 0.3 % of total shops.

Adrian Andrzejewski