Citti-Park Kiel rocks the rankings: A success for Schleswig-Holstein!
Flensburg's shopping center ranking 2025: Citti with solid positions, ECE struggles with decreasing influence. Learn more!

Citti-Park Kiel rocks the rankings: A success for Schleswig-Holstein!
A lot has happened again in the northern German shopping landscape. At the end of 2025, the annual shopping center performance report from Ecostra, a renowned business consulting company, shows astonishing results for various shopping centers in Schleswig-Holstein. Loud kn online Around 400 malls were surveyed and tenants were able to rate the economic development on a scale of 1 to 5. Only shopping centers with at least five reviews received an official place in the rankings.
The Citti Group from Kiel performs above average. The Citti Park in Kiel achieved an excellent second place with a grade of 1.46, only surpassed by the Südring Center in Paderborn. The Citti Park in Lübeck is also well placed in fifth place, while the Citti locations in Flensburg, Stralsund and Husum take 11th place. Jan Meyer, authorized representative of the Citti Group, emphasizes that proximity to tenants and end customers as well as quick decision-making processes are important success factors.
Long-term investments
The Citti Group is continually investing in the substance of its centers and plans to invest around 70 million euros in the expansion and modernization of the Strelapark in Stralsund. This strategy continues the traditional family-run corporate culture that was brought into being by Gerhard Lütje over 50 years ago. The Citti Group currently employs around 10,000 people.
In contrast, the operator ECE, which is responsible for the Sophienhof, Herold-Center and the Holsten-Galerie, is faced with mediocre rankings. ECE assumes that the transformation of city centers and changes in retail are key influencing factors on the performance of malls. Even though ECE denounces the limited informative value of the surveys - since often only dissatisfied tenants take part - a clear trend emerges: Malls in central locations rarely achieve top rankings, while centers in peripheral locations with free parking spaces are more popular.
The location of the ECE center
What is striking in recent years is the decline in ECE standing; From first place in the early years of the survey, the company has fallen to 11th place in 2025. The challenges seem great and the feedback from tenants doesn't exactly give cause for optimism.
A comprehensive look at the shopping center landscape can also be found in the EHI Shopping Center Report, which documents market developments and lists all shopping centers with retail rental space of 10,000 square meters or more. The report is considered a standard work in the industry and, in addition to detailed profiles and tenant lists, also offers insights into planning projects. The information collected is of interest not only to experts but also to potential investors who want to have a good hand in the future development of shopping centers, such as shopping center report explained.
The situation of shopping centers in Schleswig-Holstein shows promising results for some, while others have to contend with strong competitive pressure and challenges in customer acquisition. In the hope that city centers will continue to be lively, it will be exciting to see how the shopping landscape will develop further.