A conflict between the Warsaw Flower Guild (WGK) and the Bronisze wholesale agricultural market was resolved last week by the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA), which upheld a Housing Office ruling calling for the WGK's closure and demolition.
Bronisze obtained a Housing Office ruling last year deeming WGK, which runs pavilions in Warsaw's Mokotów area, in violation of Polish planning law since the guild did not obtain the proper operating permits. Although WGK's owners appealed to the NSA and continued their operations, this week's decision means that the marketplace must close its doors for good.
"The main financial benefits of the decision will be for the traders, who currently pay for stalls in both locations," said Janusz Byliński, the president of Bronisze. "The benefit for us is that we will be able to lease more space since we still have 15% of our trading area set aside for new clients."
Bronisze has been at loggerheads with its smaller rival in an attempt to expand its customer base since it started operating in 1999. In 2001, Bronisze leased the plot occupied by WGK on the corner of ulica Bakalarska and Aleja Krakowska from its owner, Małgorzata Lachowska, who regained the land in a restitution case after the flower market was established in the early 1990s.
Although Bronisze took control of the land and successfully halted WGK's business last year, a protest led by the Self-Defense (SO) party to defend the rights of small traders helped the flower market to reopen two weeks later, preserving the jobs of 600 vendors.
In its last-ditch attempt to unseat WGK from Bakalarska, Bronisze management used aerial photographs taken in May 1997 to show that a large number of the market's trading pavilions were erected without planning permission. The defeat of WGK's NSA appeal now means that the market's buildings are subject to demolition.
Bronisze, Poland's largest agricultural market with more than 2,800 traders a day, was funded by a $15 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and a $10 million loan from Kredyt Bank.
This year, Bronisze raised its capital from zł. 87 million ($21.2 million) to zł. 113 million ($27.6 million). Byliński forecasts that Bronisze will increase its revenue from zł. 31.5 million ($7.7 million) in 2001 to zł. 34 million ($8.3 million) this year and close 2002 with unconsolidated profits of zł. 7 million ($1.7 million).
