Development plans of the French retail group E. Leclerc suggested that this year the company would be building four or five hypermarkets with a floor area in excess of 2,000sqm. In 2002 no new building was opened with only work commencing on a hypermarket in Lublin and a supermarket in Belchatów. In 2003 Leclerc will not be able to meet any of the targets that the company set itself in 2000. As late as the beginning of 2001 the company announced that it will be bringing four or five large centres on line annually. 2003 will see work on three new supermarkets beginning although the company was unwilling to say where they would be located. The company also stated that it might open new hypermarkets but was unwilling to say where. Another novelty for Leclerc in Poland will be for it to follow the example in France and build petrol stations close to its hypermarkets. The function of this is t draw clients to the hypermarkets, fuel is something for which most of us know the price of and therefore it is worthwhile for retailers to subsidise its price.
Leclerc claims that it will not be limiting its growth in Poland although recent laws have hit the retailers through limiting the type of goods that can be sold and be increasing the amount of bureaucracy needed to get building and other permits for retail units in excess of 2,000sqm. In certain cities the political atmosphere is opposed to foreign retailers and this has certainly discouraged many firms from investing.
Certain opinions given by developers are however not shared by other analysts.