Prague - Shopping malls keep springing up in the Czech Republic and many more are going to be opened in the following years.
This is a message of a new study called Shopping Center Hypermarket 2008 conducted by by Incoma company. The same trend is proved also by the Retail Map of planned new centers introduced by Cushman & Wakefield company.
According to Incoma, there have been six new shopping malls opened in the Czech Republic last year - two in Prague, one in Plzeň, Liberec, České Budějovice and Mladá Boleslav.
Aimed at regional capitals
In total, there are more than 250 shopping centers, with as much as 12 more to be introduced this year.
The Retail Map drawn by Cushman & Wakefield covers all centers to be opened before 2011 - there are going to be 25 of them, with nine being in Prague.
New centers are to be introduced above all to regional cities - this year there are going to be malls opened in Brno (its center will be called Exit 66), Most (City Most), Pardubice (Palác Pardubice), Liberec (Liberec Plaza) and Jihlava (City Park Jihlava).
In 2011, Hradec Králové (HB Realis and Amadeus), Zlín (Kaskáda and Zlaté jablko) and Kladno (Oáza and Centre) will have two new centers each, while Liberec (Forum), Ústí nad Labem (Forum), Ostrava (Karolina) and Olomouc (Šantovka) will have one, according to the data of Cushman & Wakefield.
Fashion boutiques dominate
The dominant part of the Czech shopping mall areas is "occupied" by hypermarkets. However, roughly 2,000 fashion and footwear shops constitute the largest part of the total number of shops in Czech malls.
Malls also offer above all jewelries (450 shops), electronics and computer shops (390) and special grocery stores (346). Restaurants and groceries are on the rise, too.
