In recent years there has been an increasing interest in sustainable development within the shopping center industry. Many current challenges, such as climate change, have forced shopping centers to pay attention to sustainability issues in their operations. Sustainable development has become a widely used concept to communicate corporate responsibility. However, thus far there has been little agreement on the concept itself which has therefore remained contradictory with a wide range of meanings. This paper seeks to address how stakeholders from the Finnish and Swedish shopping centre industry view the role of sustainable development in their business operations. The study is based on focus group discussions and it provides valuable insights into the sustainable practices in these two countries.