The Žabka grocery chain, the Polish-based network that’s been present in the Czech Republic ever since its acquisition by Penta in 2008, is targeting all the larger town within 100 km of Prague. Penta sold the chain to Tesco in 2011. Its network’s general director Radim Lunda told the server aktualne.cz the company plans to open two more stores by the end of June, but that further growth depends on the actual real estate on offer and its location in regards to supplying other Žabka stores. “For example, driving to a single store in Hradec Králové wouldn’t be profitable, but if there were three stores it might make sense,” he explains. The company has opened most of its stores in Prague but it also has four in Pilsen and operates others as far away s Jihlava, where it has two. He insists that the economics of logistics dictate the company will not be opening any outlets in Moravia. At the moment, there are 98 Žabka stores in the Czech Republic, a 30 percent reduction compared to three years ago. “We optimized the number of stores and cleaned outselves from the unprofitable one.”
