Vendors pay 500 000 CZK for a stall at Brno Christmas market. Photo: @BrnoDaily
Brno, Oct 28 (BD) – Dozens of Christmas stalls will lull wandering citizens from November 24 into a holly-jolly mindset. Wanna taste Christmas punch, chestnuts, wines or seasonal treats? Owners of stalls pay a fortune to be there for you though. What will the city reinvest the money into?
Half a million CZK for a Brno Christmas stall
Brno Tourist Information Center (TIC) is preparing Dominikánske náměstí and Náměstí Svobody for hosting the majority of Christmas market stalls, the official website “Brnenské Vánoce” informs.
The city has a proper selection for sellers. Everybody signs a contract only for one Christmas, so every year there is a new chance. “We combine the principles of auctioning and also put emphasis on the quality of the goods. The starting price varies depending on whether it is a sales market stall or a food stall,” Adéla Nováková, spokeswoman for TIC, said to iDNES.cz.
To erect a stall at one of the squares is anything but cheap. The great interest in Christmas stalls at Náměstí Svobody pushes rent prices up. The official tendering procedure organized by TIC starts with a price of 155,000 CZK (without VAT) for a small food stall and 85,000 CZK (without VAT) for a sales stall.
However, one of the 2017 Christmas sellers will pay more than 650,000 CZK for his food stall, Czech daily iDNES.cz reports according to the data from the TIC public register of contracts.
Money you put out is the spirit you get back
Christmas in Brno is a time when both, sellers and shoppers pay out. Nevertheless, the city plans to reinvest money from rents into a public Christmas program. Spending money can pay off.
The notoriously famous Turbomošt, one of the best-selling beverages during the Brno Christmas market will be ready also this year for thousands of jolly visitors who want to spend their money on a hot alcoholic drink.
According to Jan Vlachynský from Bar, který neexistuje (The Bar that Doesn’t Exist)the stall sales are strongly dependent on the weather. “Sometimes the sales are hundreds of thousands or even millions of Czech crowns, but it occurred once that we earned almost nothing,” he told iDNES.cz.
TIC has not yet disclosed the overall rents that sellers had to pay. In the register, there are so far 34 contracts amounting to almost 10 million CZK, and the contract signing is not over yet.
“Money is reinvested primarily back to Brno Christmas. Thanks to them we are able to provide a free daily program at Naměstí Svobody. If the Christmas market is prosperous, money will support other art and cultural education programs that are meaningful, yet in need of financial aid,” TIC spokesperson Novákova explains for iDNES.cz
