Czechs no longer want more supermarkets in their cities

Prague - Most Czechs no longer want commercial chains to build additional stores near their homes. This is evident from a survey conducted by the Respond & Co agency for ČTK. Four-fifths of respondents expressed opposition to the construction of new discount stores, supermarkets, and hypermarkets. Retail chains have occupied large cities in the Czech Republic and are now focusing their expansion on towns with several thousand inhabitants. However, in many Czech and Moravian cities, residents are protesting against additional stores from retail chains, and some municipalities have already rejected the construction of new shops.
    The director of Respond & Co, Ondrej Gažík, told ČTK that 81.4 percent of the 900 respondents in the nationwide survey do not wish for new retail stores in their immediate vicinity. The greatest resistance to the construction of new shops comes from residents in Central Bohemia (93.3 percent) and Northern Moravia (87.1 percent), where there is a high density of modern stores. People aged 50 to 59 are the most opposed to new shops (85.3 percent).
    "The results of our survey support the claim that residents of the Czech Republic are already saturated with the density of retail chain stores and do not require further construction, as the current situation is sufficient for them," commented Gažík. However, seven percent of respondents would not mind a new supermarket, 6.4 percent would accept a hypermarket, and 1.6 percent of survey participants would like to have a new discount store near their home.
    The eleven largest retail chains operated 1,126 supermarkets, hypermarkets, discount stores, and department stores in the Czech Republic at the end of last year, according to data from Incoma Research and the magazine Moderní obchod. In 2005, there were 1,045 of them.
    Modern stores will continue to increase in the Czech Republic. Retail chains have already occupied large cities and, according to analyst Zdeněk Skála from Incoma Research, are now focusing more on smaller municipalities. "There will be a development of new formats, especially smaller stores. The area of smaller municipalities below 5,000 residents and the urban space is still underserved by the expansion of international companies," Skála pointed out.
    Other retail chains are also targeting smaller towns, which until now have primarily been the domain of discount stores. For example, Tesco Stores ČR opened its first small supermarket in 2005 in Mikulov, which has around 8,000 residents. By the end of last year, Tesco had small stores in Vodňany, Bechyně, and Veselí nad Lužnicí. These municipalities have about 6,000 residents.
    A similar strategy has been adopted by the Interspar retail chain, which operates 24 hypermarkets and one supermarket in the Czech Republic. "For us, every city with more than 5,000 residents is open. However, we are also very interested in Prague and other larger cities, where we see significant potential," declared Managing Director and General Director of Spar Česká obchodní společnost Martin Hruška, who said last November that Spar plans to operate 100 to 150 supermarkets in the domestic market within five years.
    However, in some cities, retail chains have begun to encounter resistance from residents and local governments. For example, the Znojmo municipality does not want to permit further new supermarkets in the city center. At the beginning of this year, it rejected a request from Lidl for a permit to build a new shopping center. The historic core of Znojmo attracts crowds of tourists each year, and since 1998, shopping centers Kaufland, Hypernova, and Interspar have been established in this part of the city.
    Opposition among many residents of Ústí nad Labem has been triggered by a plan from the company INT, which wants to build a shopping center on the approximately hundred-meter-long U České besedy street. A petition against the construction, titled No to Hypermarkets, has been signed by over 2,200 residents of the city. Despite the opposition from many residents, the representatives of the Ústí nad Labem district approved the sale of this street to INT in April this year.
    For several years, the association Citizens Against Penny Market has been protesting against the planned construction of a Penny Market discount store near the Svisle Primary School in Přerov, with several thousand people signing its petition. Recently, the residents also opposed the construction of a Lidl discount store. The inhabitants of the city started to sign a petition, supported by 1,000 people. Opponents of the construction are particularly concerned about the deterioration of traffic conditions in their area. The city is now considering trying to buy the building of the former Chemoprojekt to prevent its planned demolition and the construction of a Lidl supermarket.
    
Do you want more new retail chain stores to be built in your vicinity?

no	81.4 percent
yes	18.6 percent

If yes, then which type?

supermarket	7.0 percent
hypermarket	6.4 percent
not specified	3.6 percent
discount store	1.6 percent
do not want additional stores	81.4 percent