Shopping centres as modern consumer structures are a result of present consumer lifestyle and hence form an inevitable part of everyday life. This paper presents the key determinants necessary for planning and creating a successful modern shopping centre. Five key determinants have been defined: study of potential consumer market; location and accessibility; competition; size and design of the centre; composition of lessees. The paper further presents the correlation of the key factors. It has been concluded that only after all the afore-mentioned factors are satisfied, the result may be a successful and profitable project. The analysis of the case of the Portanova Shopping Centre in Osijek has proved this thesis. The data have been gathered from primary and secondary sources. Primary data have been gathered by applying the monitoring and poll conducting methods, whilst the studies carried out earlier and the data provided by the shopping centres have served as the secondary source.