For most of the last decade, Croatian shopping centres were judged by their fashion line-up. The arrival of an international apparel group was the headline, and everything else was filler between the anchors. That logic is changing. In October, Mall of Split announced four new tenants (a pharmacy specialising in dermocosmetics, a bank branch, a store selling food from Croatian producers and a cheese maker’s shop) and framed them explicitly as a move beyond fashion (Retail SEE, 18 October 2026). In the same month a specialist wine and spirits concept chose Supernova Buzin for its first Croatian store. Neither is a fashion story, and both tell landlords something about where footfall is coming from.
Why daily-needs tenants matter more than they used to
Fashion is the category most exposed to online competition and to discount formats in retail parks. A shopper can buy a basic T-shirt anywhere; she cannot collect a prescription, open a bank account or buy fresh local cheese online with the same convenience. Daily-needs and service tenants create reasons to visit that are frequent, routine and hard to substitute. They raise visit frequency even when they do not raise average spend, and frequency is what keeps the rest of the mall alive.
There is also a defensive argument. A centre that depends on a handful of fashion groups is concentrated in one category and often in a few corporate decision-makers. When one of those groups rationalises its portfolio, the gap is large and hard to fill. A broader mix of pharmacy, health, beauty, financial services, speciality food, food and beverage and leisure spreads that risk.
What a workable daily-needs cluster looks like
Adding a pharmacy and a bank does not create a cluster. What makes it work is placement and logic:
- Proximity to the grocery anchor and parking. Routine visits are short. Services that sit between the supermarket and the car park get used; services hidden on an upper level do not.
- Complementary rather than overlapping offers. Two pharmacies can coexist if one is positioned on dermocosmetics and beauty, as the Split example shows. Two generic ones next to each other usually means one of them struggles.
- Local and speciality food. Croatian producers, delicatessens and bakeries give a centre identity that international chains cannot. They also appeal to tourists in coastal locations.
- Opening hours that match the routine. A service cluster that closes earlier than the supermarket, or does not trade on the days the centre is open, undermines the point of having it.
The leasing side: different tenants, different terms
Service and speciality tenants rarely look like fashion tenants on paper, and the lease has to reflect that. In practice, landlords and agents should expect:
- Smaller units and lower fit-out budgets. A local food producer may not be able to fund a full turnkey fit-out. A shell-and-core (roh bau) handover with a landlord contribution, or a phased fit-out, is often the difference between signing and not signing.
- Different rent structures. Banks and pharmacies typically pay fixed rent and resist turnover clauses. Speciality food and F&B operators may accept a base rent plus turnover rent, which gives the landlord upside if the concept works.
- Service charge sensitivity. For a small unit with modest margins, service charge can be as decisive as rent. Clear, capped and transparent service charge budgets make these deals easier to close.
- Security packages scaled to the tenant. A large bank will offer a parent guarantee or bank guarantee without difficulty; a regional producer may need a deposit-based structure or a shorter initial term with an extension option.
- Indexation and solemnisation as standard. HICP-based indexation and a solemnised (notarised) lease protect both sides regardless of the tenant’s size. They should not be dropped simply because the tenant is small.
Common areas, kiosks and pop-ups as a testing ground
Not every new concept is ready for a permanent unit. Islands, kiosks and pop-up spaces in the mall’s common areas let a landlord test demand for a local brand, a seasonal offer or a first-time entrant at low risk for both sides. A concept that performs well in a kiosk is a natural candidate for a permanent unit at the next vacancy. This is also a practical way to bring Croatian producers into a centre without forcing them into a ten-year commitment on day one.
What this means for retail parks
Retail parks have followed a similar path from the start: a grocery or drugstore anchor, discount fashion and home, and increasingly a pharmacy, optician, pet store or café. The difference is that in a retail park convenience is the whole proposition, so the daily-needs mix is the anchor rather than the supporting cast. Developers planning new parks in smaller Croatian towns should treat services as part of the core tenant plan, not as space to fill once the brands have signed.
The broader lesson is that a tenant mix is not a list of logos. It is a set of reasons for people to come back, and the reasons that hold up best are the routine ones. Landlords who plan for that, with matching unit sizes, fit-out solutions and lease terms, will be less exposed when fashion moves on.
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