National retailing after the Second World War: structural changes, differences and the impact of the socialist model on the Czech and Slovak Republics (1953–1989)

ABSTRACT

Changes in retail structures, processes, and culture in post-war Europe were strongly affected by the post-war economic boom, the origin of a mass consumer society, and the adaptation of innovations from the United States. Retail structures and the culture of consumption remained different in the Czech and Slovak parts of the former Czechoslovakia after the Second World War, which influenced the development of retail trade in both countries. After the rise to power of the communists, retail was nationalised, leading to centralising trends in the Czech Republic and decentralisation trends in Slovakia. As a result, the retail structure differed in the two countries. While the Czech Republic showed a preference for larger stores, Slovakia focused more on smaller stores, particularly in rural areas. Although the post-war period brought positive changes, such as the growth of retail trade and the restoration of the population’s purchasing power, the socialist economic model, which was controlled by state-owned enterprises, led to insufficient development and investment in retail and a lack of innovation and efficiency. The post-war period represented a key era for the transformation of European retail; the development trends in post-socialist countries, however, differed from other, capitalist countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Retail structure changes
• nationalisation of retail
• retail network centralisation vs decentralisation
• socialist economic model
• czechoslovak socialist republic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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2 Jessen and Langer, Transformations of Retailing.

3 Marglin and Schor, The Golden Age of Capitalism.

4 Jessen and Langer, Transformations of Retailing.

5 Shaw and Alexander, “British Co-Operative Societies as Retail Innovators,” 62–78.

6 Marglin and Schor, The Golden Age of Capitalism.

7 Fulop, “The Changing Structure of Hungarian Retailing,” 383–96; Krásný, “Retailing in Czechoslovakia,” 30–33; Seitz, “Retailing in the East,” 4–10; Drtina, “The Internationalisation of Retailing in the Czech and Slovak Republics,” 191–203; Hilton, “Perspectives on Eastern European Retailing and Consumption,” 109–25; McKenzie, “From Communism to Capitalism,” 57–78; Ilnicki and Wyeth, “The Transformation of Poland Retail,” 125–66; Križan and Bilková, “The Transformation of Slovak Retail,” 53–74; Kunc and Novotná, “The Transformation of Czech Retail,” 15–51; Sikos, “The Transformation of Hungarian Retail,” 75–123.

8 Krásný. “Retailing in Czechoslovakia,” 30.

9 Karasiewicz and Nowak, “Looking Back at the 20 Years of Retailing Change in Poland,” 103.

10 Kunc and Križan. “Thirty Years of Post-Socialist Retail Transformation in Central Europe,” 7–13.

11 Dries, Reardon and Swinnen, “The Rapid Rise of Supermarkets in Central and Eastern Europe,” 525–56.

12 Szczyrba, Maloobchod v ČR po roce 1989 – vývoj a trendy se zaměřením na geografickou organizaci.

13 During the socialist period in Czechoslovakia, consumer cooperatives achieved their strongest position on the internal market. By the end of the 1980s, they owned almost 40% of the stores of the stationary retail network and accounted for more than 20% of the retail turnover of the entire internal trade.

14 Szczyrba, Maloobchod v ČR po roce 1989 – vývoj a trendy se zaměřením na geografickou organizaci.

15 Krásný. “Retailing in Czechoslovakia,” 30–3.

16 Krásný. Mezinárodní srovnání maloobchodní sítě.

17 Zdeněk Szczyrba, Maloobchod v ČR po roce 1989 – vývoj a trendy se zaměřením na geografickou organizaci.

18 Before 1953, official data is lacking on the retail trade that could be compared with the next period on the level of the current Czech and Slovak Republics.

19 Očovský, “Vybrané problémy štúdia nákupných miest,” 23–36.

20 Dries, Reardon and Swinnen, “The Rapid Rise of Supermarkets in Central and Eastern Europe,” 525–56.

21 František Križan et al. “Transformation of Retailing in Post-Communist Slovakia in the Context of Globalization,” 148–64.

22 Štefan Očovský, “Priestorové črty tovarovej výmeny na Slovensku,” 211-41.

23 Zdeněk Szczyrba, Maloobchod v ČR po roce 1989 – vývoj a trendy se zaměřením na geografickou organizaci.

24 Kunc and Novotná, “The Transformation of Czech Retail,” 15–51.

25 Starzyczná and Steiner, Maloobchod v českých zemích v proměnách let 1918–2000.

26 Krol and Steiner, Kapitoly z hospodářských a sociálních dějin Československa 1918–1989.

27 Michalak. “Retail in Poland,” 487.

28 https://www.vtedy.sk/ (cit. 2023-8-17).

29 Očovský, “Priestorové črty tovarovej výmeny na Slovensku”.

30 Bren and Neuburger, Communism unwrapped: Consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe; Gagyiova. “Legitimizing Socialism?,” 19–47.

31 https://www.vtedy.sk/ (cit. 2023-8-17).

32 Starzyczná and Steiner. Maloobchod v českých zemích v proměnách let 1918–2000.

33 Szczyrba, Maloobchod v ČR po roce 1989 – vývoj a trendy se zaměřením na geografickou organizaci.

34 Kopačka, “Changes in the Sectoral Structure of Economy and the Geographical Distribution of Industry in Czechoslovakia 1948–1989.”

35 Mitríková, “Martina Marchevská and Irina Kozárová.”

36 Langer, “How West German Retailers Learned to Sell to a Mass Consumer Society,” 71–86.

37 Poznanski, “Privatisation of the Polish Economy,” 641–64.

38 Kolektiv autorů, První pětiletý hospodářský plán rozvoje Československé republiky. Národní archiv České republiky.

39 Myant, The Czechoslovak Economy 1948–1988: The Battle for Economic Reform.

40 Ibid.

41 Szczyrba, Maloobchod v ČR po roce 1989.

42 Pulpitlová, “Transformácia maloobchodnej siete v SR,” 133–37.

43 Starzyczná and Steiner, Maloobchod v českých zemích v proměnách let 1918 - 2000.

44 Szczyrba, Maloobchod v ČR po roce 1989: Vývoj a trendy se zaměřením na geografickou organizaci.

45 Jindra, Mezinárodní obchod – retailing.

46 Kornai, The Socialist System.

47 Bren, The Greengrocer and His TV.

48 Kornai, The Socialist System.

49 Starzyczná and Steiner, Maloobchod v českých zemích v proměnách let 1918–2000.

50 In 1946 (1948), nationalisations of banks, industry, retail and services took place, as well as a process of centralisation and collectivisation of economic activities. Political opponents were repressed and dissatisfied citizens were suppressed (often brutally). In terms of depicting private property and liquidating small businesses, the Communist Party promoted a discourse of common ownership among all residents. This was also reflected in the retail sector. The state ideology became Marxism-Leninism.

51 Krol and Steiner, Kapitoly z hospodářských a sociálních dějin Československa 1918–1989.

52 Szczyrba, Maloobchod v ČR po roce 1989 – vývoj a trendy se zaměřením na geografickou organizaci.

53 Ibid.

54 Drtina and Krásný. Mezinárodní srovnání vývojových tendencí maloobchodní sítě.

55 Szczyrba, Maloobchod v ČR po roce 1989 – vývoj a trendy se zaměřením na geografickou organizaci.

56 Drtina and Krásný, Mezinárodní srovnání vývojových tendencí maloobchodní sítě.

57 Starzyczná and Steiner, Maloobchod v českých zemích v proměnách let 1918–2000.

58 Szczyrba, Maloobchod v ČR po roce 1989 – vývoj a trendy se zaměřením na geografickou organizaci.

59 Kunc and Novotná, “The Transformation of Czech Retail,” 15–51.

60 Krásný, Mezinárodní srovnání maloobchodní sítě.

61 Drtina and Krásný, Mezinárodní srovnání vývojových tendencí maloobchodní sítě.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja [grant number: APVV-20-0302]; Masarykova Univerzita [grant number: MUNI-A-1406-2021]; Vedecká Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR a SAV [grant number: VEGA 2/0144/22].

Notes on contributors

František Križan

František Križan, an associate professor at Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Slovakia (Department of Regional Geography and Regional Development). He is a regional geographer and his scientific research activities are mainly focused on retail geography, geography of consumption and new trends in geography.

Josef Kunc

Josef Kunc, an associate professor at Masaryk University, Faculty of Economics and Administration, Brno, Czech Republic (Department of Regional Economics). He is an economic geographer and regionalist specializing in the transformation of the current socio-economic and spatial environment of cities and regions. Other areas of his scientific interest are issues of consumer preferences, shopping behaviour, and retail management as well as a special interest in tourism.

Kristína Bilková

Kristína Bilková, is a senior researcher at the Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. The centre point of her work is research in the field of retail geography and consumption, where it reflects the problems of the post-socialist transformation of retail, specifically the behavioural aspects of these processes (patterns of consumer behaviour). She focuses her research activities on retail not only in the city but also in the countryside with regard to the identification and mapping of food deserts.

Markéta Novotná

Markéta Novotná, an assistant professor at the Department of Regional Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. She is a regionalist specializing in sustainable development with a focus on consumer behavior, decision-making processes, and regional planning. She is performing continuous research on changing consumer behavior under various conditions and its consequences for the development of tourism, retail, and services.