24 Brands Arriving on the Croatian Market

The first new fashion brands will arrive on the Croatian market with TriGranit’s Arena Center. The arrival of many well-known department stores, furniture manufacturers, toy stores, electronics, food… is also expected soon.

written by Antonija Knežević
[email protected]

Avenue Mall has brought Zara to Croatia, West Gate has brought Massimo Duty, Pull and Bear, and Stradivarius, while City Center has welcomed the German fashion house Peek & Cloppenburg, particularly appealing to young people, New Yorker, the Austrian chain of sports clothing and footwear Hervis, and the Portuguese Salsa Jeans. Despite the impression that we have approached Europe with the variety of brands available in stores, each newly opened center usually surprises us with the offer of new fashion names. Therefore, it can be expected that existing and new centers will bring us more novelties in the coming years.

Pioneer Brands
The first will arrive with TriGranit’s Arena Center, which is expected to open in October this year. One of them is the American fashion brand Gap, which, with a revenue of around $14.2 billion and about 3,100 retail locations, is among the largest clothing retailers in the world. Since Gap is present in Europe only in a few countries, specifically only in the United Kingdom, France, and Ireland, the arrival of this brand in this market will surely delight shoppers. In addition to the Gap brand, it also offers fashion brands such as Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime, and Athleta, so it can be expected that over time, stores with these brands will also open in the Croatian market. Among TriGranit’s novelties is Zara Home, another brand from the Inditex family, which, as the name suggests, offers home furnishings at affordable prices. Although it was said that Swedish H&M could also be among the novelties that Arena Center will bring, its arrival has not yet been confirmed. According to some information, H&M intends to enter the Croatian market next year and plans to open four stores in the center of Zagreb and in the western, eastern, and southern parts of the city, but the Swedish company still does not confirm its arrival.

Absolute Attraction
Like H&M, another Swedish brand will delight local customers – Ikea. The arrival of the world’s most famous furniture manufacturer in Croatia has been confirmed and is certain, and according to the latest announcements, from 2012, Croatians will no longer have to go to Austria for products labeled ‘Ikea’. That year, a large Ikea shopping center in Rugvica, covering about 140,000 square meters, is expected to open. In that center, about 34,000 square meters is reserved for the Swedish furniture chain, while the remaining area with about 320 stores will be rented to global retailers. Since Ikea is estimated to attract 12.3 million customers and that this brand is an absolute magnet for shoppers, it is certain that this shopping center will attract a whole range of renowned brands. In addition to the mentioned fashion brands, the arrival of the Swiss clothing brand Charles Vögele and the French Decathlon, specialized in sports equipment, is also expected soon.

Delay Due to EU
The majority of European and global fashion retailers have postponed their expansion into this market until Croatia joins the European Union, and it is expected that after that date, the offer in shopping centers will be even more enriched. In a few years, the offer in domestic shopping centers will likely include the Lindex brand, which, like H&M and Zara, falls into the value-for-money category. Women’s and children’s clothing, cosmetics, and lingerie are the assortment of this fashion brand, which currently has about 400 stores in Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Russia, Central Europe, and the Middle East. Independently or through franchises, the well-known department store Debenhams, which sells a range of its own and other brands, could also arrive in a few years. Although Debenhams is strongest in the UK and Ireland markets, it has expanded beyond these two markets to 18 countries through international franchises.

Expansion Map
All major European brands are looking for ways to expand and grow by opening new markets every year, so it is very likely that Croatia will soon appear on their expansion maps. Thus, in the near future, the Primark brand, which adheres to a low-price policy and, like the Spanish Inditex, does not invest in advertising, or the rapidly growing Polish brand LPP, could be available in Croatia. Alongside Zara Home and the domestic Magma Home, the English department store BHS, which primarily sells clothing and home goods, or the German Tchibo, which offers clothing in addition to home goods and electrical appliances, could also appear in the market. In the consumer electronics segment, the arrival of the largest European retailer in that segment, the German Media Markt, is expected. When it comes to department stores, a new name in this market could be Kastner & Öhler, in the footwear segment Footlocker, in beauty Body shop, and in the children’s toy segment Hamleys.

Lack of Attractive Spaces
In addition to fashion, new names are expected in the food sector, specifically fast food and coffee shops. It is certain that Starbucks is entering this market, and it is very likely that fast food chains will not allow McDonald’s to dominate the Croatian market alone. Burger King, Kentucky Fried, Pizza Hut, or Taco Bell are just some of the fast food chains that could enrich the offer in shopping centers in the coming years. Besides the fact that we are not yet in the European Union, which is a basic prerequisite for many global retailers to enter a market, another problem for the somewhat slower arrival of fashion brands in Croatia is that they cannot find sufficiently large and attractive spaces in the center of Zagreb. – The prerequisite for the entry of new retail, especially fashion, brands into our market is a quality offer of retail spaces for them. The city center, primarily Zagreb, has only now, due to changes in the real estate market in Croatia, entered a phase of healthy changes on the brink of maturation and modernization of the market, says Vedrana Likan, director of Colliers International for Croatia.

Consolidation of Stores
The first rule for fashion brands entering a new market, explains Vedrana Likan, is to open the first store in an attractive street location in the city center. However, as such spaces are lacking in Zagreb, the arrival of numerous fashion brands has been delayed for years. Since we are primarily talking about international brands, it is important to note that there is still a serious shortage of retail spaces larger than 200 square meters in the city center, and the availability of such spaces is virtually zero. Both existing and new fashion brands are most interested in spaces larger than 200 square meters in the center, only four percent of all spaces in Zagreb’s center meet those dimensions, and more than three-quarters of spaces are smaller than 55 square meters, says Vedrana Likan, who believes that due to the very small supply of such spaces, there will be more and more consolidation of stores in the future, as is the case with stores like Boss, Douglas, Armani, Dolce & Gabanna, and new concepts like Magma. By creating the aforementioned prerequisites, namely Croatia’s entry into the European Union and the consolidation of retail space in the city center, all obstacles to the arrival of European and global brands in the Croatian market will be removed. In a few years, the offer in Zagreb, and in Croatia, should be on par with major European metropolises, and shopping abroad will become a thing of the past.