Tasting Prague’s new market for Eastern European deli and comfort food

The opening this past Saturday of Prague’s first Best Market drew hundreds of eager shoppers to a strip mall a few blocks from Budějovická metro station.

There was a DJ, cake, and gifts for the first hundred customers through the door. By the time I arrived at 5 p.m., the fanfare had faded, but the crowd remained. The line still stretched from the chilled salo at the entrance to the horishky cookies at the register.

Prague already has no shortage of Eastern European specialty shops, many carrying similar products (preserved fish, smoked meats, Roshen biscuits) but often with little transparency about origin or ownership.

Best Market is a Polish company founded by Ukrainian brothers Serhiy and Roman Kolesnyk, who left Ukraine for Poland and opened their first store in Kraków in 2020.

The brothers have since built a chain of around 30 stores across Poland’s major cities, following Ukrainian communities from Warsaw to Wrocław.

“We wanted to create a store where foreigners would feel at home,” Serhiy Kolesnyk told Polish trade publication Wiadomości Handlowe. “We wanted to give people who miss their homeland access to things they were used to.”

This diaspora-focused retail model is relatively unusual in Europe, but in Czechia it is increasingly relevant. According to Czech Statistical Office data, more than 600,000 Ukrainian citizens live in the Czech Republic, with estimates of 110,000 to 180,000 in Prague alone, one of the largest Ukrainian urban communities in Europe outside Poland.

Best Market is not the first to spot this opportunity. Ukrainian products have been appearing on supermarket shelves across Czechia through established import and distribution channels, as Ukrainian producers integrate into EU-compliant food supply chains.

If the Budějovická location succeeds, more branches are expected to follow. The company is also planning wholesale distribution in Czechia, stocking convenience stores, and launching a Czech e-shop within three to four months.

Despite their Ukrainian background, the brothers describe Best Market as a Polish company. It is Polish-registered, Warsaw-headquartered, and expanding steadily westward. In Poland it operates retail, wholesale and e-shop and achieves an annual turnover of approximately 40 million euros.

Polish expats will feel right at home here with plenty of pierogi and smoked and pickled sprats.

The 140-square-meter store also includes a Georgian favorites: khinkali dumplings and canoe-shaped khachapuri sit alongside various varenyky in the freezer section, while drinks like tarragon and vanilla cream sodas show up in the beverages section alongside endless variations on kvass.

One shopper said she came specifically for dried fish and cookies. “The big boxes,” she said. “You can’t get them here.” A Ukrainian colleague mentioned pickled herring as a staple that is hard to find locally.

Stand-out items included salo, cured pork fatback with distinct regional traditions, prepared in a variety of ways from chili-specked to parsley-flaked. Jars of pickled tomatoes and mushrooms packed with garlic and homemade sunflower halva as well as The horishky, dense walnut-shaped cookies with fillings.

A deli counter stretching along much of the back wall with calamari, olives, cheeses, caviar, and smoked fish and delicacies like borscht and layered liver cake. My haul: Dark rye bread, pickled herring, mustard (the condiment aisle also features an array of flavored Ukrainian ketchups), and bags of chamomile and poppy seed candy.

Speaking to Deník.cz about the store's opening, Tomáš Prouza of the Czech Chamber of Commerce predicted that most customers “will not be concerned with the origin of the owner,” given the number of speciality grocery stores in Prague, but “good prices and an interesting offer.”

That assesment seems right on both counts. CEO Dmytro Ostrovskyi told iDnes.cz that more than 200 customers were served in the first two hours alone. The 5 p.m. queue suggested the afternoon had not slowed.

In terms of pricing, it was solidly mid-range. Homemade sunflower halva came to about 105 CZK per kilogram. Pickled tomatoes were 9 CZK per 100 grams, salo started at 28 CZK per 100 grams, and horishky walnut cookies were 59 CZK per 100 grams. The most expensive item on my receipt was pickled herring, at 116 CZK for a 300 g jar.

The format recalls chains such as Iceland, which brought British Cadbury chocolate and frozen fish and chips to the Czech market but failed to build a lasting customer base.

The emphasis on Eastern European comfort foods gives the Best Market model a different foundation, likely to appeal not only to Ukrainian and Polish communities, but to anyone drawn to the briny, tangy, and dill-heavy flavors of Eastern European cooking.