Five years of Nivy Mall: from opening during the pandemic to top 5 most visited shopping centres in Central Europe
· 4 min. read
Nivy Mall opened on 30th September 2021, in the midst of the pandemic. Five years on, it has become the first-choice shopping centre for 20% of residents in the Bratislava Region, according to a Market Vision survey, and attracts more than 20 million visits a year. With a record 20.7 million visits expected in 2026 and total sales up 5% year on year in the first half, its fifth anniversary marks another strong year.
Thriving in challenging times through thoughtful design and a strong retail mix
When Nivy Mall first opened its doors, face masks, restrictions and uncertainty were part of everyday life, and questions about whether online shopping would eventually replace brick-and-mortar stores were growing louder. Yet the response was clear from the start: around 330,000 visitors came to Nivy in its first week alone, and the centre reached one million visits within just 24 days. Since then, the mall has built on its strong start and become one of Central Europe’s top 5 shopping centres by footfall.
“You can spend years designing a building, but it takes tens of millions of visits to understand how it works in practice. We’re constantly learning from how people use Nivy and adapting it as their needs change. That means relocating tenants, reconfiguring retail units and rethinking how different retail categories and services sit alongside one another. The work never stops: we want to keep building on what the place offers today,”
says Ján Harom, Director of Nivy Mall.
Growing sales and strong store performance
Total sales at Nivy Mall increased by 5% year on year in the first half of 2026, with individual stores also delivering strong results. McDonald’s records 850,000 transactions annually and is approaching the one-million mark, while the centre’s Lindex store is the brand’s third-best-performing location among its 435 European stores.
dm drogerie markt is also achieving outstanding results at Nivy Mall, where it opened its 160th Slovak store on the centre’s opening day. At almost 646 sq m, it was the chain’s largest store in Slovakia at the time and remains one of its flagship locations.
“Our dm store in this shopping centre attracts enormous interest, welcoming, on average, up to five times as many customers each day as the national average for our stores. To provide them with excellent service, the store has a team three times the size of those at other dm locations,”
Retail is evolving as more flexible formats emerge
Fears that physical stores would fall out of favour with customers have not materialised, but their role has changed. Five years ago, the retail sector was asking whether brick-and-mortar stores could survive the rapid growth of e-commerce. Today, successful brands integrate online and in-store sales, and a physical presence does not necessarily mean a traditional store with a long-term lease.
“Hybrid concepts have emerged as the winners. In my view, physical stores and e-commerce are no longer competitors, but two parts of the same business model. The best brands no longer treat them separately, and neither do customers: they simply distinguish between a good experience and a bad one,”
explains Ján Harom.
Looking ahead, the Nivy Mall team plans to respond to this shift by offering more space for pop-up stores, product launches, sampling, events and other short-term brand activities. High footfall is not the only reason brands find this shopping centre attractive. According to the latest Market Vision Slovakia survey [1], 20% of respondents consider it their first choice, while 22% estimate that they spent more money there than at any other shopping centre over the past six months.
Another key strength is Nivy Mall’s combination of shops and services with convenient transport connections.
“We are approaching full occupancy, so space for new permanent stores is naturally becoming increasingly limited. This is another reason we want to make greater use of pop-ups and short-term formats, which allow us to bring new brands to the mall,”
adds Ján Harom.
Alongside these more flexible formats, Nivy is also expanding its permanent retail offering, with new brands and concepts expected to arrive by the end of the year.
[1]The Market Vision Slovakia data used in this press release comes from a quantitative CAWI survey of 700 respondents aged 18 and over from the Bratislava Region. The sample was representative in terms of age, gender and education. Fieldwork for the latest wave took place from 11 to 21 September 2026.
