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This paper deals with current status and development of retail chain companies in the Czech Republic and within the European Union. The research was aimed at studying the dependence of retail activity on local and international market, diversity of innovative activities of retail chains among the EU member states and to identify the qualities to increase the market share. From the research results can be seen that low price discounters and traditional supermarket corporations dominate the retail market and the size of retail chain is not directly proportional to the size of the market share. Some retailers already exist for several decades but there are newly coming retailers to the local markets which are effectively competing against these reputable brands. Total revenues, number of stores and number of employees are compared in five year period to show the evolution since 2010. Chains generally are not focused purely on retail activity; therefore the basis of retail chain strategy should be to determine the conceptual, territorial and assortment framework of the activities. The main factors of innovation performance of retail chains are the financial and informational resources, the openness towards customer needs and their own approach to the innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]