Low Attendance and Price Increases Affect Brno’s Green Market, but Stall Holders Remain Committed

“The first two weeks of sales I went into the red. Compared to last year, we have smaller profits by about 45 percent,” says Michal Novotný, owner of one of the stalls at Brno’s Green Market, to Seznam Zprávám.

He is clear about the reason for the lower attendance – bad weather. “That is the alpha and omega for us, the interest is less because of it. It was nice before the Easter holidays and now at the weekend, so suddenly there were a lot more people. Hopefully it will get better,” he hopes.

It is a weekday afternoon, cloudy and the square is almost empty. Only a few passers-by pass between the fruit and vegetable stalls.

Novotný feels the effects of the price increase, but he tried not to increase the price. “Our prices are de facto the same as last year. We sold a kilo of strawberries for 55 crowns a week ago. That is a totalitarian price that has nothing to do with today’s reality. There is a lot of competition here,” he explains.

“However, customers tend to buy cheaper goods, they look a lot at the price, they buy smaller quantities of things,” he observes.

The elderly seller at the opposite booth also agrees with this. “Before, people used to buy a bag of tomatoes, now it happens to me that they take one. And they will also brush the dust off it so that it doesn’t weigh more,” he says with exaggeration.

According to him, the difference in interest is big compared to last year. “People go for crowns, not quality. It’s getting worse, they often tell me that they have to save money,” he claims.

“Ukrainians come the most, because they are more used to buying fresh goods in the markets. Recently, a lady told me that they have luxury markets in Ukraine and that she misses it in the Czech Republic,” she adds.

Senior Jaroslav Hruška went here for seedlings. “I’ve been going to Zelňák for perhaps seventy years. Everything has gotten really expensive, I’d rather not even talk about it. So I just walk around and see what’s nice here. Sometimes I buy something, but I don’t need much for myself,” he describes.

Jan, a man in his thirties, also went to the Brno “Zelňák” with his girlfriend. “When we go here, we tend to soak up the mood. When we like something or feel like something, we just buy it. We don’t solve it financially,” he claims. “It’s about something different than when you go to the supermarket. The atmosphere breathes on a person, and then he tends to buy something.”

Miluše Bednaříková estimates that profits are about a fifth smaller than last year. “Our prices are more or less the same. Heating costs have risen the most, so it comes from our margins,” explains the market woman.

They say they are worried about the future of the stands. “The young Czech generation does not want to work in agriculture, everything is imported from Poland. We are all older now, we are over seventy years old. We are no longer enough for physical work. The market will be empty soon,” he thinks.

Jan Doležal, president of the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic, describes the situation in domestic agriculture as a huge problem. “Due to the repeated targeting of farmers by the public and, unfortunately, by some politicians, working in this field, which aims to produce quality and affordable food, is not very attractive for young people,” he claims.

At the same time, it is not just about small farmers. According to Doležal, the April survey among the members of the chamber showed that roughly 78 percent of agricultural enterprises have problems with a lack of employees.

“It can be expected that they will continue to face difficulties. Despite the likely slowdown in the volume of production, especially in the more demanding fields of primary agricultural production, which are most affected by high costs and low purchase prices of commodities, the current number of workers will not be enough to cover the necessary volume of work,” he thinks.

However, stall holders’ interest in a place at the markets does not wane. This year, approximately thirty farmers and 15 traders signed a contract with Brno.

“The market is not dying, we even have a slight increase – two sellers have added, which we are happy about. We have a full market this year. Of course, its current occupancy changes depending on the weather and current crops,” explains Kateřina Dobešová, spokeswoman for the Brno-střed district.

“It is true that prices have increased. We do not regulate it in any way, setting the price policy is a matter for sellers. We are satisfied with this season so far,” he adds.

Alena Klimešová, who sells seedlings, cannot complain about the lack of interest. “We have our clientele who return every year. Our sales are not weaker,” he assesses.

The costs went up, so she did not avoid price increases either. “We were paying much more for heat in the greenhouse and water. The seeds also went up. We also had to raise the price a bit. We used to sell kohlrabi and lettuce seedlings for three crowns, now we sell them for four. Herbs used to cost 30 crowns, now they cost 35,” he enumerates. “But people don’t mind, it’s still much more expensive in stores.”

According to her, the start of the season was slower because of the weather. “April is cold this year. Mostly only March was cold, and in April everything was in full swing,” he observes.

This is also confirmed by Zita Strnadová, the market manager at Jiřího z Poděbrad Square in Prague. “The alpha and omega of the markets’ success is the weather. You see that when it’s beautiful, the markets are full, people are pleasant, they stop, they buy,” he says.

They have seen a big drop in interest in goods on the markets since last August. “It is also due to the massage from the media that people should save. I think they listened,” he believes.

“Someone raised the price. I spoke with one greengrocer who told me that the price of some things has even dropped. For example, onions are five crowns cheaper than last year. The gentleman selling the seedling said that he didn’t raise the price either – he understands that people don’t have money and that raising prices would hurt him too. Even so, hobby markets compete with them, marketers don’t have it easy,” he summarizes.

They increased the rent at the beginning of last year, this year they did not change the price of the place. Now they have four price categories. Food stalls must pay 1,600 crowns per day without VAT, stalls with baked goods or cosmetics pay 1,200 crowns, craftsmen 700 crowns. Protected workshops are a special category.

Adam Weber, the organizer of the North Bohemian markets, also observes lower sales for some. “You can see that people are of course considering what to buy and for how much. We organize markets in nine cities in the Ústí Region. We observe there that although people still walk the same way, they spend less money,” he describes.

“The bakers here had to increase their prices by up to a third, their profits dropped really significantly. They increased the price, so people buy baked goods, but in smaller quantities,” he says as an example.

According to him, people from smaller towns are more sensitive to price increases. “You can see that they are considering whether to buy two sausage legs or just one,” observes Weber.

According to him, attendance is now increasing. “Finally, the first planting, vegetables and herbs have appeared in the markets, which people like. So far, the weather has not been kind to us – the first spring flowers, such as pansies or primroses, were hardly sold. People knew there was almost no point in buying them because they would freeze.”

Stallholders decreased after the covid pandemic, but their number has been stable since then. “Some got employed after covid to be safe. But often they don’t want to do anything else, it’s often the only way for farmers to get money directly,” says Weber.

The costs for the organizers of the markets were also increasing. In some cities, they pay up to a third more than last year for electricity, cleaning or technical services.

“However, we are trying to maintain a broad offer at the farmers’ markets, so we did not want to increase rents for vendors. It’s hard to say what it will look like in the next few years,” adds Weber.