Expensive brand retail outlets in Poland - how do they survive?

Im amazed at the amount of new and expensive shops that have been popping up all over Poland within the past few years. OK so theres many new retail parks with gleaming brand new fancy shops, retail outlets upon retail outlets all displaying fancy clothes and shoes etc.. only problem is there always empty.

Nobody ever seems to buy anything it amazes me the amount of new shops opening all the time and the apparent lack of business/income. Even though they seem to never make any money they still keep opening up day after day, month after month.

In a proven economy with plenty of disposable income like the UK theres no where near as many shops all selling the same things within any given area as Poland. i cant understand it..

Anybody else noticed this?

I did

I did last time i was in Wroclaw. Took a trip to the Magnolia shopping centre, nice shiny new shopping centre, lots of expensive shops and next to no people in it. Same goes for Arkady near the train station, lots of shops selling expensive clothes and jewellery and no customers.

Centres with cheaper shops like Pasaż Grunwaldzki and Galeria Dominikańska always seem to be busy in comparison.

My favourite commodities shop is Auchen (French) i think without googling, followed by Tescos and Castorama both with English parent companies. My in laws recently had a large Tescos open near their village and its nice to visit them and see Tesco brands on their products as i know they'll no longer be ripped off by local establishments.

Im all for nice expensive branded products we all need them from time to time but in Poland its like Banks, theyre fcuking everywhere the market is absolutely saturated. Banks are one section as big business has its surveyors but many of these smaller clothes companies are independant, they just aint going to make any money.

Poland is no where near ready for that yet.

This subject has always amazed me as well from the very first time i came to poland 2 years ago. In poznan, its the same, expecially in Browar shopping centre. Most of the shops in there cater for the upper end of the market and as you say, they are always empty. I know there is a monied class in poland but it does not strike me as being sufficiently large enough to keep all the shops going.

Of course, there is a cynical side to me that thinks a lot of them are used for cash laundering but that is based on no material facts whatsoever.

The thought had crossed my mind and material being the ironic word here, many high end shops, leather, suits and smart wear, sport shops perhaps always empty. Decathlon is an exception though its a sportsmans playground, what a shop i should think that has a kill off zone of around 15 km radius, similar to other big stores.

Doesnt help that the staff are rude as possible usually give you daggers the minute you walk in as your disrupting them from their daily Perogi eating routine, well thats one excuse. Ive tried on jackets in such shops with my Polish wife and all of a sudden in turns into a biatch fest between my wife and the shop clerk.

The leather goods shops always has me wondering how they survive. A new shopping centre has opened near me in poznan and there are about 3 of those shops....is there really that much of a demand for leather goos and suitcases!!??

Yeah, can well understand the biatch fest..!!

Hoping to establish before the floods of footie fans? Who knows!

Recently i stopped by a popular drug store (shoppers drug mart for you canucks) to buy a drink as there was nothing else in sight. I had a chat with the bored as hell manager who told me that hardly anyone comes into her newly built store. She is also expecting business to be in the red for at least 1 year while the surrounding area develops. I guess they built the store b/c they anticipate business to pick up as well as to prevent a competitor from taking the location.

I'm sure these foreign owned expensive clothing stores you speak of WB are there for a similar reason. Maybe they're expecting business to pick up, either from local poles or tourists. Germans love shopping in wroclaw, for example, because they can purchase the same or similar products for less.


Clearly the clerks are jealous that your wife has been fortunate to marry a wealthy foreigner who can afford to buy his lady expensive clothing. That and customer service is lacking in PL.

Really.

Another cracking thread by WB. I was in the deli on the market square a short time ago and saw the crazy prices that they had. A small jar of Colmans for 10PLN. There's a hot copy from Roleski which, although not as good, costs much less (2PLN) and is pretty tasty.

I bought two packets of biscuits for 25PLN. OK, they were McVities Hobnobs and Cadbury's Choc Chip but still.

Anyway, I always seem to be the only guy in there. There are quite a few rich types here but I think it comes down to two things. Preference for their own Polish brands (complete with all kinds of quality standards) and also the desire to keep building up their bank balances by not buying expensive products. They either haven't experienced just how good some international brands are or they overestimate/exaggerate how good their own brands are.

You talking about Kuchnia Swiat by any chance? Those boys are doing very very nicely thank you!

As for how expensive brand outlets survive: profit margin. When the profit margin is ten times larger, a shop only needs to sell a tenth as much stock to bring in the same amount of money. Just look at the difference between Polish prices and prices in places like the USA and you'll see how big the profit margin is in Poland!

Kuchnia Świat? I don't think so. Hmm...I don't really disagree with what you said but I see it another way. There are so many places you can buy what that deli is selling. Dom Chleba, a range of supermarkets, Społem shops and some other markets to name but a few. They are staples for most Poles. It is these shops which do the bulk of the trade in those goods, about 95% I'd guess. The profit margin is about 5 times larger for most products in the deli and that doesn't make up for their lack of sales. For bread and pickles, much less.

The Poles just aren't adventurous enough to try some new brands. They prefer blander stuff. So long as they maintain that attitude, the deli doesn't stand a chance of becoming a flourishing enterprise.

Heinz beans (don't laugh) would be a case in point. Polish folk won't buy them because they have no idea what to do with them. Some serious advertising is required for a lot of food items.

But it is true to say that Poles won't stray from the path even when faced with obvious quality.
The idea of Brits eating chips with everything doesn't help much either. It's difficult to convince others when your own cuisine is often derided

Expensive clothes shops seem to have a slow, but steady flow of buyers. I imagine that some are trying to stick it out until the good times come. BHS is an example of getting it wrong though. In their case they entered the market too early.

I know a number of people(read pretty young women) who work in high-end stores in centres such as Browar.

You are entirely right they are not busy, but there are wealthly individuals who make substantial purchases of 10000zl in a visit.

The margin on designer product is amazing, so although it would undoubtably be better to be a bit busier they do quite well.

I wouldnt spend too much time worrying about how mega-brand stores make ends meet...they do extraordinarily well!!

Christ... Don't you think these shops would simply bunkrupt If the income really wasn't big enough ? If somebody sells expensive clothes then makes on one item more cash than someone else selling 20 pairs of some Chinese pants, It's that simple.


Yep. I'm sure they cry all nights after a visit like that. And the male clerks could even become faggs just to have a chance with a wealthy and sexy foreigner like WB. Seriously If Mrs WB is anything like our super duper wealthy boy then I'm really not surprised that It happens.

It's the same here in the United States. I like shopping at Ontario Mills Mall. During the weekdays the mall looks virtually abandoned. I can't comprehend, how the businesses stay afloat and generate any profit. Especially when there's high overhead, including cost of goods, rent, salaries, insurance, advertising, etc.

Yeah. I was down in wroclaw once with a friend. A friend of hers joined us after buying 3 pairs of shoes which came to a total of about 1200 EUR (about 5000 pln...) so there does seem to be people out there that can do the big purchases and as pointed out, the margin is probably very nice.

(As an aside....The woman who bought the shoes, then proceeded to tell us how she could not afford to bring her children away on holidays...but that is a totally different subject...)

It never ceases to amaze me how the chavvy types find money. Has Poland planted trees for neds to pull money off of? Oh, credit, that's it.