The Ukrainian grocery chain Best Market is opening its first store in Prague, continuing its expansion into the European market following the chain’s growth in Poland, according to Czechia Online.
The grand opening of the store is scheduled for June 6. Best Market’s first store in the Czech Republic will be located in Prague 4 on Budějovická Street. According to the publication, the chain is focusing on traditional Ukrainian and Eastern European products: meat products, specialty sausages, smoked and dried fish, pickles, dairy products, and sweets.
Best Market began operations in 2019 with a single store in Kraków, Poland. Over the past few years, the chain has grown to three dozen stores in Poland, targeting both Ukrainian immigrants and local shoppers interested in Eastern European cuisine.
The expansion into the Czech Republic reflects a broader trend in the development of Ukrainian small and medium-sized businesses in Central European countries. After the outbreak of full-scale war, a significant number of Ukrainian entrepreneurs began developing services, retail projects, cafes, stores, and logistics solutions in countries with large Ukrainian communities, primarily in Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Slovakia.
The Czech Republic has become one of the largest centers of Ukrainian migration within the EU. This creates steady demand for familiar food products, culinary concepts, and services tailored to Ukrainians. At the same time, such stores are gradually expanding beyond an exclusively immigrant audience: Eastern European products are becoming appealing to local shoppers as well, especially in major cities.
For Prague, the opening of Best Market means increased competition in the niche of specialty food retail. International and ethnic stores are already operating in the Czech capital, but Ukrainian chains can compete thanks to their recognizable product range, direct work with suppliers, ready-to-eat products, and focus on shoppers seeking regional flavors.
On opening day, the store management plans to host tastings, children’s activities, and meetings with special guests. The first customers are promised gifts, which should help the chain draw attention to the new format in the competitive Prague market.
The development of such projects shows that Ukrainian business in Europe is gradually shifting from adaptation to scaling up. For retailers working with Ukrainian and Eastern European products, the key markets remain countries with a large Ukrainian diaspora, developed logistics, and high demand for a specialized product range.
Best Market is a Ukrainian grocery chain that began operations in Poland in 2019.
Ukrainian brand Sleeper is opening its first store in Kyiv, the company announced.
According to the brand’s social media pages, the boutique at 3 Rylskyi Lane is scheduled to open on Kyiv Day, May 31.
“This boutique expands the Sleeper ethos: each piece is made from start to finish in 6–12 hours by a single tailor, honoring the legacy of Kyiv’s light industry schools,” the brand announced on Facebook.
Sleeper, a premium-quality women’s clothing brand, was founded in Kyiv in 2014 by Katya Zubareva and Asya Varetsa, starting with a collection of everyday pajamas.
The Polish clothing and home goods retailer Pepco has announced plans to open more than 600 stores by 2030, as well as to open stores in Ukraine.
“The acceleration in retail growth we are seeing in Western Europe is driving us to expand our ambitions in this region, and we currently plan to open at least 600 new stores over the next four years—from fiscal year 2027 to 2030—which will double our presence in the region. We are also launching a carefully managed pilot project in selected regions of Ukraine, a market where Pepco already has strong brand recognition and which, over time, represents a potentially significant new growth opportunity for the group,” CEO Stefan Borchert is quoted as saying in the press release.
As previously reported, the consulting firm Retail&Development Advisor (RDA), as Pepco’s official exclusive representative in Ukraine, is engaged in identifying the best locations for the international retailer. The plan is to open 5–10 locations by the end of 2026.
According to published results, the group’s revenue for the first half of fiscal year 2026 amounted to €2.5 billion, which is 5.0% more than in the same period of the previous year. The group’s underlying EBITDA grew by 17.5% to €516 million.
Pepco is a Polish chain of clothing and household goods stores headquartered in Poznań. It has been operating since 1999 and has over 4,000 stores in 18 countries. The brand is part of the Pepco Group. The Pepco Group is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (PCO).
The international multi-brand footwear retailer SuperStep will close all of its stores in Ukraine in May and June, according to the Retailers Association of Ukraine (RAU)
Zafer Ozbay, CEO of Eren Retail Group in Ukraine, which manages the Lacoste and SuperStep chains, told RAU that this decision is the result of a strategic analysis of global operations and the structure of sales channels.
“Ukraine remains an important market for us, and this step should be viewed as an optimization of our global operations, not as an indicator of market potential,” Ozbay said.
He clarified that there are no plans to close Lacoste stores and that operations are continuing as usual. According to RAU, as of the end of April, there are 12 Lacoste stores operating in Ukraine: one each in Odesa, Dnipro, and Lviv, and nine in Kyiv.
SuperStep was founded in 2012 in Istanbul and operates in the sport-casual and lifestyle segment, offering a diverse selection of sneakers, accessories, and apparel from world-renowned brands such as Lacoste, Nike, Puma, Adidas, Reebok, New Balance, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and Saucony. The brand entered the Ukrainian market in 2015, opening its first store in the capital’s Sky Mall shopping center; by 2018, it operated five locations: four in the capital and one in Lviv. The chain continued to open stores as part of a full-scale expansion: in 2023 at Victoria Gardens in Lviv, in 2024 at the Dream shopping mall in Kyiv and the Karavan shopping mall in Dnipro, and in 2025, a renovated space opened at the Forum Lviv shopping mall in Lviv.
As of the end of April 2026, six offline locations remained: in the capital’s Lavina Mall and Dream shopping centers, Lviv’s Forum Lviv and Victoria Gardens, Odesa’s Riviera Shopping City, and Karavan Dnipro. The retailer also operates an online store.
Back in March 2026, the Puma brand replaced SuperStep at the Respublika Park shopping center in Kyiv with its new “Field of Play” concept. At the Gulliver shopping center in Kyiv, the New Balance chain is considering SuperStep’s space to open a store with a revamped concept and a larger area—over 300 square meters. Currently, the stores are located next to each other.
The Ukrainian multi-brand retail chain guide opened its first store in the capital on April 11 at the Lavina Mall shopping center and plans to open seven more locations in 2026, according to the Ukrainian Retailers Association.
Guide began its expansion on March 20, 2025, by opening its first store in the Forum Lviv shopping center in Lviv. The next location was in the Nikolsky shopping center in Kharkiv (opened on September 12, 2025). By 2026, the chain had already expanded to two locations: in Khmelnytskyi at the Lybid Plaza shopping center and in Kyiv at the Lavina Mall.
“We have already signed an agreement with Respublika Park, where the fifth guide store will operate, and we plan to open another 6–7 stores by the end of this year,” Oleksandr Silin, Director of Network Development for Marathon, guide, and Jack Wolfskin, shared with RAU.
According to him, guide follows modern trends with a focus on developing the footwear category; a key feature of the company’s product range policy is the inclusion of so-called challenger brands such as Asics, On, Merrell, and Hoka. There are also Ukrainian brands—Syndicate, Keep, and Optimus Gang.
The E-Zoo pet store chain opened six new stores in February 2026, according to the chain’s founder, Oleg Bilyuk.
“February was a truly record-breaking month for E-ZOO — we opened six new stores! This is the largest number of openings in a single month in our entire history. The chain now has 67 pet stores in 11 regions of Ukraine,” he said on LinkedIn.
New stores have opened in the capital at 17 Bulvarno-Kudriavska Street and 24 Beresteisky Avenue (Smart Plaza shopping center), in Rokytne and Boyarka in the Kyiv region, and two in Rivne. Each store offers 1,800 to 2,500+ products for daily pet care: food, grooming, accessories, and toys.
According to OpenDataBot, E-Zoo: We Love Animals LLC was founded in 2021 by Oleg Bilyuk (17%), with Vladimir Kostelman as the ultimate beneficiary. In January-September 2025, the company received UAH 426 million 897.7 thousand in net income, which is 78% more than in the same period of 2024, while the net loss amounted to UAH 58 million 955.1 thousand against UAH 36 million 596.9 thousand for the three quarters of 2024.
E-Zoo is a chain of pet stores that is part of the Fozzy Group. It operates in an omnichannel format: pet products are available both in physical stores and online, with door-to-door delivery. Currently, the chain has 67 stores in 11 regions of Ukraine.
