Baťa will vacate the building in Liberec that the company once built

Liberec – The Baťa store in the building on Soukenné náměstí is closing in Liberec, which was built by the shoe manufacturer itself in the 1930s. The nine-story functionalist building today, like many other former Baťa buildings, belongs to the Zlín-based development company Heritage Real Estate, which did not extend the lease for the shoe store. The Baťa sign will also disappear from the monumentally protected building, the today's Liberec supplement of MfD reported.

"We are preparing for a complete renovation of the building. It will not remain empty. Although the tradition of selling shoes will not continue, there will probably be a café on the ground floor. Baťa currently occupied three floors; the rest are occupied by other tenants. I believe we can fill all of them. People need not fear Vietnamese stores," Viktor Šimeček from Heritage Real Estate told the newspaper.

The Baťa building in Liberec is one of the most prominent representatives of functionalism in the city. The shoe store will close on February 19. "We regret this concerning the tradition of selling shoes that is associated with the building. We are in intensive negotiations about relocating the store to a nearby shopping center," said the marketing manager of Baťa, Denisa Jandová, to the newspaper. The company also has a second store in OC Nisa in Liberec.