Head of Lidl Hungary: Chain closures bound to happen if special retail tax raised any further

Two-thirds of their potential profits, HUF 55 billion, had to be paid in retail sales tax alone in 2024, said Zita Szlavikovics, chairwoman of the board of Lidl Hungary, in a long interview with 24.hu. According to her, if the Hungarian government continues to raise the retail special tax, "the first chain closures are bound to happen." She added that this will certainly not be Lidl, but she believes that chain closures will have a "terrible impact on the market," as there are already too few stores to meet consumer demand.

Zita Szlavikovics said that in 2025, they invested €106 million (approximately HUF 42 billion) in Hungary on renovations, modernizations, and developments, and in some stores, they even installed solar panels. According to Szlavikovics, Lidl store managers currently earn an average of HUF 1.37 million gross, while store employees earn HUF 683,000 gross. This year, they had an average wage increase of 9 percent.

The manager said that, based on their experience, Hungarians' shopping habits have recently shifted toward shopping more frequently, but less, and "customers are also more careful to buy only as much as they will consume, so that food does not end up in the trash. I consider this a very positive change."

The Hungarian government introduced a a 4.5 per cent tax targeting the revenues of foreign-owned retailers in 2022.