“A new song or evergreen …?” The spatial concentration of Vietnamese migrants’ businesses on Prague’s Sapa site

A locality characterised by a high concentration of economic activities of immigrants, predominantly immigrants from Vietnam, has emerged on the outskirts of Prague. This article explores whether or not this locality—in terms of its function, structure, mutual relations among entrepreneurs and physical morphology—resembles certain rather well-known spatial models of migrant business concentration as described in other developed immigration countries (e. g. ethnic enclave economies, commercial/business enclaves, ethnic markets/retail districts, commercial hubs and ethnic commercial belts). Despite having some features in common with the existing models of spatial concentration, the Sapa site has certain specific features, namely a primary and very strong function as a wholesale centre serving the Vietnamese ethnic economy, the absence of a residential function, weak ethnic features including goods for sale and its origin without the intervention of a local government. In all these aspects, Sapa and other to a certain extent similar post-socialist markets/bazaars in Central Eastern Europe are relatively unique among existing models.