Croatian Real Estate: The Dark Store Phenomenon

Published on September 29, 2025 and written by Cyril Jarnias

Away from the picturesque Adriatic shores and popular tourist spots, a new real estate phenomenon is emerging in Croatia: dark stores. These hyper-urban warehouses, optimized for quick delivery, are multiplying in city centers, quietly transforming urban landscapes and consumer habits.

By attracting e-commerce giants, dark stores are reinventing urban space usage, presenting both opportunities and challenges for the future of Croatian city centers.

What are the economic and societal implications of this trend on the local real estate market?

Here’s a fascinating look into this rapidly expanding world.

Rise of Urban Warehouses for Quick Deliveries in Croatia

The rise of urban warehouses for quick deliveries in Croatia is driven by a combination of factors related to demand, real estate market conditions, and technological innovations.

List of Key Factors:

• Increased demand for ultra-fast delivery: Croatian consumers, particularly in major urban areas like Zagreb and Split, now expect increasingly shorter delivery times for their online purchases and food orders.
• Flexibility of the Croatian real estate market: The relatively affordable cost of certain vacant or underutilized commercial spaces facilitates the rapid establishment of urban warehouses (“dark stores”) in city centers.
• Innovative technologies:
  • Robotic automation for quick order preparation and reduced wait times.
  • Artificial intelligence to optimize storage and anticipate flows.
  • Digital inventory management with real-time tracking through IoT.
  • Use of electric vehicles, cargo bikes, or drones for last-mile delivery.

Comparative Table: Impact on Local Economy vs. Challenges

Positive Points	Challenges Faced
Creation of local jobs	Scarcity and high cost of urban land
Revitalization of urban commerce	Potential conflicts with residents
Sustainable logistics optimization	Regulatory complexity
Reduced traffic/delivery delays	Heavy technological investments

Concrete Examples in Croatia:

• Zagreb: Several “dark stores” have been developed in peripheral neighborhoods near the center (Novi Zagreb), benefiting from optimal road accessibility.
• Split & Rijeka: Areas around strategic ports are seeing the emergence of modern logistics warehouses, sometimes integrated into broader intermodal projects (notably Rijeka with its new digital terminal).

Future Perspectives:

• Accelerated development of automated warehouses expected due to widespread adoption of robotic and AI solutions enabling efficient operation even on reduced surfaces.
• Gradual transformation of certain traditional commercial spaces toward the hybrid “store-warehouse” model, optimized for both physical and digital sales.

List of Major Challenges for Investors/Operators:

• Quickly identify real estate opportunities suitable for logistics storage while respecting local regulatory framework
• Manage urban integration without generating nuisances (additional traffic, noise)
• Maintain high level of technological investment in face of growing international competition

The future is marked by continuous strengthening of the urban micro-logistics network favored by complete digitalization of the Croatian logistics chain.

Impact of Dark Stores on Logistics Real Estate in Croatia

The growing prominence of dark stores is profoundly transforming the logistics real estate sector in Croatia, mirroring trends observed in other Central and Eastern European countries.

Growing Demand and Strategic Location:

• Dark stores, urban mini-warehouses dedicated to preparing online orders, are generating increased demand for logistics spaces located in the heart of urban areas.
• These spaces are often installed in ground-floor units, vacant former stores, underground parking lots, or commercial premises on secondary routes, thus optimizing proximity to customers to reduce delivery times.
• Preference goes to strategic locations in dense neighborhoods, close to consumption centers and easily accessible for delivery personnel.

Sought Criteria	Description
Urban proximity	Establishment in central and dense neighborhoods
Accessibility	Easy access for delivery vehicles and couriers
Surface area	Spaces more compact than traditional warehouses
Adaptability	Possibility of converting former stores or parking lots

Effects on Prices and Logistics Real Estate Market:

• This new demand leads to increased rents in strategic urban areas and appreciation of well-located logistics properties.
• Vacancy rates decrease for premises adaptable to dark stores, while conversion of former physical stores to urban logistics becomes a dominant trend.
• Scarcity of suitable locations pushes prices upward and intensifies competition between logistics operators and e-commerce players.

Evolution of Investment and Management Criteria:

• Investors and property owners are adapting their criteria:
  • Increased valuation of flexibility of premises (possibility to quickly transform commercial space into urban warehouse).
  • Search for shorter and adjustable leases, allowing quick adjustment of supply to e-commerce market demand.
  • Growing interest in secondary locations previously neglected but now sought for their logistics potential.

Implications for Regulation and Urban Economy:

The rise of dark stores poses new challenges for local authorities:

• Need to adapt urban planning regulations to frame the transformation of commercial spaces into urban warehouses.
• Emergence of questions about coexistence with residents (nuisances, delivery flows, traffic management).

Economically, the growing prominence of dark stores:

• Redraws the urban commercial fabric, accelerating the transformation of certain neighborhoods.
• Stimulates the valuation of real estate segments previously underutilized (former stores, parking lots, basements).

List of Potential Economic and Urban Impacts:

• Increase in value of urban logistics assets
• Accelerated transformation of traditional commercial neighborhoods
• Increased pressure on urban infrastructure (traffic, parking)
• Rapid adaptation of real estate investment strategies
• New regulatory requirements to frame premises usage

The rise of dark stores in Croatia fits into a global dynamic of urban logistics transformation, leading to revaluation of urban logistics spaces, evolution of investor expectations, and new challenges for urban regulation and the local economic fabric.

E-commerce Investments and Their Influence on the Croatian Real Estate Market

The e-commerce sector in Croatia is experiencing rapid growth, with a market estimated at $1.05 billion USD in 2025 and an average annual growth rate (CAGR) exceeding 11% for several years.

Major Recent Investments and Key Players:

• Local companies like Sancta Domenica, Pevex, Ekupi, Fliba, Notino, Sensus Grupa (Chipoteka), Emmezeta and retail giant Bauhaus are among the main drivers of this expansion.
• International platforms such as Amazon EU S.à r.l., Alibaba Group (AliExpress), and marketplaces like Zalando or About You are intensifying their presence.
• Croatian company Bazzar recently expanded its operations to Bosnia-Herzegovina, after establishing itself in Serbia, illustrating regional dynamism.

Effects on Local Real Estate Market:

Increased Demand for Logistics Real Estate:

• The rise of e-commerce creates strong demand for modern warehouses and distribution centers in major urban areas such as Zagreb, Split and Rijeka.
• Accelerated development of “dark stores” – customer-free stores dedicated to quick order preparation – is changing the real estate typology sought by investors.

Concrete Examples of Real Estate Evolution:

Asset Type	Recent Evolution	Preferred Location
Modern warehouses	Increase in acquisitions/renovations since 2022	Zagreb periphery & highway corridors
Urban logistics centers	Conversion of former industrial zones into e-commerce hubs	Peripheral neighborhoods of major cities
Grocery dark stores	Multiplication since 2023 with rise of quick commerce grocery	City centers/Residential areas

Consequences on Real Estate Prices and Urbanization:

• Growing demand for these logistics assets causes a notable increase in rents in the industrial/logistics sector (+8 to +15% depending on location).
• Prices per m² for premium warehouses have reached up to €900/m² in some strategic areas around Zagreb, compared to about €650/m² five years ago.

List of Observed Impacts on Urbanization:

• Accelerated requalification of obsolete industrial spaces into high-tech logistics hubs.
• Increased land pressure near major road corridors, sometimes generating unplanned urban displacement or densification.
• Visible transformation in some peripheral neighborhoods where the cumulative presence of warehouses/dark stores permanently alters the urban fabric.

Recent Illustrative Data:

• Between 2020 and 2024, over 60,000 m² additional space dedicated to storage/fulfillment was brought to market around Zagreb.
• There are now over a hundred automated “click & collect” points deployed mainly in Adriatic tourist regions but also in the heart of university cities where the young digital native population is concentrated.

The transformations driven by these investments therefore promote a profound reconfiguration of the Croatian real estate market: rapid rise of the modern industrial-logistics segment; generalized increase in rental/land values; notable evolution of the urban landscape where digital commerce and associated infrastructure are concentrated.