Gemini Park Tychy’s foot traffic figures currently differ from the average for shopping centers in Poland. How have these figures changed in recent quarters?

Tomasz Misztalewski: That’s true, 2025 was a record-breaking year for us — the best since Gemini Park Tychy opened on the first day of spring in 2018. This means that after eight years in operation, we achieved our highest-ever attendance.

Year-over-year visitor growth was 5.3 percent, which is significantly better than market trends. By comparison, the overall market in Poland was down slightly during that time, while Silesia, according to PRCH data, saw growth of about 2.5 percent. We have definitely outperformed our competitors. And this trend continues. We also ended the first quarter of 2026 with a satisfactory 2.7 percent increase, which demonstrates stability and strong growth momentum.

The center’s offerings certainly contribute to these strong results. How do you develop and strengthen each segment?

Definitely yes. Over the past year, our leasing department has signed 32 lease agreements in Tychy, as well as amendments extending our cooperation with current tenants, covering a total of approximately 13,000 square meters of space. In fact, we are now very close to 100 percent occupancy.

In recent months we’ve been actively expanding our tenant mix. Brands such as Rituals, Verona, Tatuum, and Kodano have joined the center, and some of our current tenants have decided to make further investments and expand their concepts at Gemini Park Tychy. A good example is Pandora, which moved from a kiosk to a full-size store, or the significantly expanded Martes Sport — now the chain’s largest store in Poland.

We are very deliberately building a retail offering based on diversity and complementary categories. Today’s customer wants to be able to meet many needs during a single visit — from fashion shopping, through services and dining, to everyday and administrative matters. That is why we are developing both the fashion segment and our convenience offerings.

As a result — and this is important — we’re seeing sales growth in virtually all key categories. The home furnishings segment, for example, is growing very rapidly, having increased by over 27 percent year-over-year, as is the entertainment and leisure segment, where growth exceeded 17 percent. Food service, footwear, and jewelry are also performing very well, as are services.

From the very beginning, we planned to attract service providers and institutions important to residents to the mall, making it easier for them to take care of a wide variety of matters in one place. Customers have access to a wide range of services here — from the post office to banking and telecommunications services, as well as a fitness center, hair salon, bakery, cobbler, and flower shop.

One of my goals, stemming from my previous professional experience, was, for example, to bring a customer service office for the company that is the main energy supplier to households in Silesia to the mall. We also succeeded in attracting a customer service center for the former PGNiG, which now operates under the myORLEN brand. A facility with seven service stations was established, serving not only Tychy but also neighboring towns and tens of thousands of households.
This service center is one of the key distinguishing features of our mall, positioning it as a destination for regular, everyday visits, not just occasional shopping trips.

How has the role of the gallery changed in recent years?

Today, a shopping center is a far more multifunctional space than it was just a few years ago. Retail remains, of course, the foundation of its operations, but dining, entertainment, the services mentioned above, and the quality of the time spent there are also becoming increasingly important.

That is why introducing an attractive entertainment offering was also a key priority for us. We successfully completed an expansion of the facility, which included the creation of a dining area and a modern movie theater.

Together with the Multikino chain, we opened a seven-screen multiplex — currently one of the most modern in Silesia — equipped with very comfortable “bed”-style seats that take up the space of several standard seats. This significantly boosted the appeal of the entire facility and also led to record-breaking ticket sales.

Today, modern shopping centers compete not only on the basis of their retail offerings but also on the customer experience. Visitors expect an attractive space where they can meet friends, relax, or spend time with family, but comfort is also a priority.

Gemini Park Tychy, together with chains such as Castorama, OBI, and MediaMarkt, forms a so-called “power center” with a total leasable area of over 100,000 square meters. Together with our neighbors, we offer a parking lot with nearly 3,000 spaces, which is a very important factor in ensuring the comfort of customers’ daily visits.

Local identity plays a major role in Gemini Park Tychy’s strategy. What are you doing to ensure the mall lives up to its reputation as the “beating heart of the city”?

Local roots are particularly important to us. From the very beginning, we’ve been building strong ties to the city and the region. Our goal was to create a place “for Tychy and by Tychy.”

When we were looking for a company to design the gallery’s visual information system during construction, we chose Bartek Witański, a young entrepreneur from Tychy. At the time, his portfolio included only a small project for the Municipal Cultural Center in Katowice, but we recognized his enormous potential. Today, just as we predicted, he is highly successful in Poland and abroad, carrying out projects for places such as the POLIN Museum and Nikiszowiec. For us, this is the best proof of how important it is to support local and often young entrepreneurs.

And was that when the slogan “Our Gallery” first appeared?

In conversations with residents, the phrase “our mall” came up very often. This inspired the marketing department to create its first campaign based on the slogan „Jesteśmy z TYCH…”. In this way, we were referencing the name of the city, Tychy. Slogans such as „Jesteśmy z TYCH dobrych sąsiadów” and „Jesteśmy z TYCH, którzy kochają walentynki” appeared. The word “TYCH” was always capitalized as a subtle reference to the city.

In doing so, you have become part of the city’s local identity…

Yes, but it’s not just about marketing. For residents, Gemini Park Tychy is a place they enjoy visiting, where they feel safe and comfortable. I often take walks through the mall and see people — often the same faces — meeting up in the morning for coffee at our tenants’ establishments. The greatest reward for us is hearing from residents who, from the very beginning, have referred to our center as “Tychy’s mall.” This shows that we’ve succeeded in creating a place with which the local community truly identifies and that has become an integral part of the city’s landscape for them.

In that case, I suppose social events and activities are very important to you?

Very important. Events are a key element in building relationships with residents and a way to create a place people want to return to. That said, what matters most to us is the nature of the initiatives we carry out. We focus on activities that are not only appealing but, above all, authentic and well-rooted in the local context. This helps foster resident engagement and attract customers who genuinely want to spend time here.

We collaborate very closely with local partners — the city, cultural institutions, community organizations, and educational institutions, who bring real substantive value to these projects.

One of our flagship projects is “A Window on Culture,” carried out in partnership with the Municipal Cultural Center in Tychy. The initiative was launched during the pandemic, when access to artistic events was severely limited. At that time, we opened up the gallery space to local artists and created a venue easily accessible to residents, allowing for daily engagement with art and culture. The initiative garnered a great deal of interest and is now one of the city’s most recognizable venues for cultural presentations. It hosts exhibitions, concerts, and performances, including high-profile events such as Kamilla Baar’s performance.

At the same time, we are also involved in many other initiatives that are important to the local community. We collaborate with the City of Tychy, carry out projects with the University of Development, and support the Andromedon Tychy Independent Theater Festival and the Tychy Half Marathon. Activities that address current social needs are also very important to us, such as the “I’m OK” Mental Health Week, organized jointly with the city and the Municipal Cultural Center to mark World Mental Health Day.

Another key element of our activities is connecting with the city’s local identity. Tychy has strong ties to the automotive industry and the history of the Fiat 126p, which is why we organized the exhibition “Fiat 126p – Legend of the Roads,” prepared in collaboration with the Municipal Museum in Tychy. We displayed archival photographs, historical materials, and original examples of this iconic car. Such projects foster an emotional connection between residents and their community and demonstrate that a shopping center can also serve as a space for telling the city’s story.

The year 2026 is a special time for residents — it marks the 75th anniversary of Tychy. As such an important part of the city, will the downtown area take part in this anniversary celebration?

This is a very important moment for the city and for us as well, because Gemini Park Tychy is a natural part of the residents’ daily lives. We want to actively participate in the anniversary celebrations and highlight the city’s local identity.

We’re preparing special activities for residents, including an anniversary loyalty campaign and a series of limited-edition merchandise inspired by the irises that are characteristic of Tychy. We want this unique celebration to be felt throughout the mall and to foster positive feelings about the city.

Finally, let’s take a look at the future. What are the gallery’s plans, and what direction will it take?

As of today, we have not formally announced any expansion, but the building’s structure is designed to accommodate the addition of further floors. This solution was already planned during the design phase.

However, the most important thing remains the continued improvement of the quality of our offerings and adapting the center to the changing needs of our customers. The market is changing very rapidly, which is why we want to remain flexible and consistently develop features that are important to residents.

Our goal is to further strengthen Gemini Park Tychy’s position as a hub for residents’ daily activities — a modern shopping center that combines retail, service, and community functions, while remaining “Tychy’s mall” for the local community.

An interview with Aneta Wieczorek of PropertyNews.