Shops, cafes and restaurants perceive a significant decrease in customers. Czech cities are starting to hurt again

The center of Brno, Telč and Ostrava has looked similar in recent days; there are significantly fewer people and if the weather does not want it, then in combination with the fears of coronavirus there is no interest in other frequently visited attractions.

For example, on Brno’s Svobody Square, Jiří Hilburger already had several jewelery stalls at the Wine Festival, and he knew that people walk less on the first day. “It’s a significantly lower turnout, I dare say it’s a total slump,” he said.

And other vendors in the market speak similarly, perhaps with the exception of the wine stall, where not only new but also long-standing customers go. “It simply came to our notice then. You can recognize it even during the week, when your mother is here, so she says that fewer people go than, for example, the previous weeks, “says souvenir seller Natali Uhlířová in Telč.

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The local square was filled with fans of older and newer cars on Saturday morning, but when it left, the people also disappeared. Moreover, only Czech customers will not compensate for losses. This is also confirmed by Ostrava traders who lack clients from abroad. Especially on weekends, they make up a large part of customers in restaurants and cultural facilities.

“If it’s nice, we’re full, but if not, people don’t go, and of course ‘veils.’ It’s limiting, “explains Maria Krepková, the staff of Cukrárna u Babičky.

The streets of Prague are also empty

And Prague is no better. The streets in the center, which were used to millions of tourists in every season, are again empty. It can be seen mainly in tourist places and mostly in those where foreign visitors went. Even Praguers don’t spend much time on entertainment, and students also spend more time at home.

A similar atmosphere prevails at Prague Castle. The vast majority of foreigners predominated here. There were small groups left of the crowds of tourists. In the second quarter, the number of tourists in Prague decreased by 94 percent compared to last year. So about two million people were missing.

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In addition, according to surveys, people say they have been trying to save more since the second quarter. Even due to extraordinary measures by the state, they saved, for example, on entertainment, which was limited in the first quarter by a third of respondents, but in the second by more than half. Some customers have also started looking for cheaper food brands in stores. More than half of the respondents now follow the discount promotions.

He doesn’t even want to spend too much on new clothes now – over forty percent. However, this also applies to well-known Czech brands. For example, seamstresses of custom tailoring and Blažek men’s suit stores in the center of Prague did not have a shortage of work at the beginning of the year, but then the company began to fight for survival.

“The beginning of March was almost catastrophic and then came the total closure for two, two and a half months. The outage is about one hundred million crowns, “specifies the owner of the company Ladislav Blažek. He adds that after the stores opened, he sold the collection at liquidation prices and in August he asked the court for an extraordinary moratorium, ie three months of protection from creditors. The court granted.

“We gain time, we gain three months to try to stabilize, streamline the company,” he added.

However, they are not considering a complete cessation of activities yet. They do not want to break the twenty-eight-year-long tradition of making men’s suits. But they still have almost a third fewer customers.

Czech shopping malls lost twenty billion

According to the association of shopping centers, large houses lost up to around twenty billion crowns due to the pandemic. The biggest losses were recorded when they had to be closed.

For example, the shopping center in Prague’s Bohnice is in a housing estate, so mostly people come here for ordinary shopping. Thanks to that, the fall was not so big here in the spring.

“We had about forty percent of the area open and the number of visitors dropped to fifty percent during the first measure,” said Adam Petr, director of OC Krakow in Bohnice, Prague. Almost ninety percent of customers are now back. But it doesn’t have to last long. “We feel quite noticeably the introduction of any other measures by the government,” explains the director.

And it’s similar in other cities. The shopping center in Brno is helped, for example, by the fact that it is right next to the railway station. People who go on the bus often stop for a smaller purchase. Most customers are in grocery stores, pharmacies or some fast food stalls. In other stores, however, their decrease is noticeable. For example, in clothing stores or shoes.

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On the other hand, Tomáš Lučan, the marketing director of the OC Forum Nová Karolina shopping center, is quite satisfied. “Given the current situation, we are satisfied with the number of visitors, we are significantly better compared to the competition, the number of visitors is around minus fifteen percent compared to last year,” he said. They want to catch up at the end of the year. That is why shopping centers are already preparing for the Christmas season.

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