Following TCN’s recent report on luxury foreign brands being showcased and sold in a store called the Best from Croatia is one of the country’s prime tourist spots, we paid a visit to the Best from Croatia store on the Split waterfront on March 18, 2016 to ask why.
The Remy Martin was gone, replaced by Jack Daniels.
The Jacob’s crackers had been upgraded to Digestives.
With so much Croatian goodness and a captive tourism market walking past on the Split waterfront in front of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was this really the best Croatia could offer. I decided to visit the store (my first time) and ask the assistant (who I didn’t know), but before I could open my mouth, she spoke first:
“Hi Paul, we read your article…”
“Then why do you still have all this foreign stuff? This should be a store celebrating the very best from Croatia. It is embarrassing to find Digestive biscuits in the window.”
Her reply was very interesting.
Even though the store inside has predominantly Croatia products as it should, about 70% of sales come from the international brands, a number which goes down a little in the season. Local people shop there for the international brands, and she said that it is a fact that if they didn’t sell the international brands, they would become a seasonal shop only, from April to September. Regarding the international brands in the shop window, these are replaced in the season, and from May, the shop window is a celebration of what it should be – the Best from Croatia.
I find that a little sad that a store in one of Croatia’s prime spots for tourists and souvenir shopping cannot exist selling just what the store advertises, but I thought it was worth writing the follow up article to give the broader picture.
