HOK president Dragutin Ranogajec underlined that unfair competition and lack of funding had resulted in small family-owned shops closing down daily.
The head of the HOK retail sector, Mladen Malta, said that the share of small retail shops in the commercial sector in 2004 was 70%, only to go down to 30% in 2007.
We were not prepared for market competition and did not sufficiently follow trends in the commercial sector, Malta said, adding that foreign retail chains entered the Croatian market without any restrictions and that the problem of the small retail industry floundering and jobs being lost was not properly addressed.
Recession came on top of those problems, we have become uncompetitive and small retail businesses are disappearing daily, said Malta.
The number of retail businesses in the past year dropped by 715 or 6.5%, in the period from August 2011 to August 2016 it went down by 4,127 or 28.6%, Malta said, warning also about a declining number of workers in retail businesses.
A major problem is the state's not encouraging commerce and domestic production, he said.
Improving retail trade requires, among other things, dealing with unfair competition and stepping up control in the prevention of undeclared work, said Malta.
He also pointed to the problem of too frequent legislative changes, big para-fiscal levies and the lack of trained salespeople.
Malta called on the relevant institutions, notably the new government, to abolish regulations that are unnecessary, restrictive and impossible to implement so as to facilitate business.
The small retail industry is important for tourism, notably in rural areas where older population lives. Of 6,700 settlements in Croatia, 4,000 do not have a grocery store, it was said.