It emerged last week that retailers in the Czech Republic had a great July, with sales rising 4.8 percent compared to July 2018. Analysts are digging into the numbers are now providing a greater level of detail, finding not surprisingly that shopping malls are the biggest gainers from continued consumer strength. Hospodářské noviny looks at the earnings of various shopping centers last year, writing that Centrum Chodov saw its revenues jump 30 percent to CZK 1.3bn (+€50m) in 2018. The Letňany shopping center meanwhile had a great year, even with only half the growth, leaving it with CZK 469m in sales. HN writes that other shopping centers such as Centrum Černý Most, Metropole Zličín and Palác Pardubice all saw single-digit gains in income to CZK 874m, CZK 455m, and CZK 230m respectively) while the Palladium Praha and Arkady Pankrac both experienced a 2.5 percent slip in revenues (to CZK 385m and CZK 992m respectively). Cushman & Wakefield’s Jan Kotrbáček told the newspaper that tourism was a growing factor in rising sales for the center of Prague and predicted that new centrally located malls in Prague (Savarin), Brno (Dornych) and Plzen (Ameside) would have a significant impact on those markets.
