Czech Republic ranks 11th on list of most attractive European countries for retailers

The Czech Republic has ranked 11th in a list of most attractive countries for retailers in Europe, according to a survey by CBRE, a company focusing on services in commercial real estate. World-wide, the country ranked 17th.

Photo: Kristýna Maková

CBRE has just published a study which shows the country just missing the Top 10 of European countries as attractive for the retail market, edged by Poland in 10th spot and Switzerland in 9th. Tomáš Beránek, the head of Retail - High Street and Tenant Representation at CBRE, said in a press release, that the Czech Republic and Poland now represented the most sought retail destinations in Central and Eastern Europe. According to the assessment, called “How Active are Retailers the Czech Republic?” the countries are more attractive for expanding brand businesses than Scandinavia, Portugal or Ireland.

The report assessed that the Czech market is saturated but offered retailers high quality retail space. Most new brand retailers first target Prague, opening their first shop in the capital before expanding into other regions, usually in the country’s second-largest city Brno.

Prague offers not only modern retail areas in established shopping centres, but also has the most developed “high street” in Central and Eastern Europe, according to CBRE.The capital’s Palladium shopping centre was cited as combining two aspects: a modern shopping centre in the centre of the city located at the heart of the “high street” zone. Around the corner, is the very highly-valued pedestrian car-free location, Na Příkopě, also a much-sought site for retailers. The study suggested that the retail market in the Czech Republic offered foreign brands numerous possibilities for entry and subsequent expansion.

Mr Beránek compared the Czech Republic’s ranking to most of the other countries that made it in the Top 10, the top three of which were Germany, the UK, and France, noting that “The majority of countries ranked in the table ahead of the Czech Republic [offered] retailers a much larger market”. Besides the capitals, he stressed, most had several other large cities in the regions which enjoyed large purchasing power and a high offer of “modern retail space.”

For this reason, 11th place is considered a success by CBRE, not least given the smaller size of the market and where modern retail spaces emerged later than neighbouring countries which were not part of the communist bloc.