Starter grant in Kortrijk: the attraction premium explained

Kortrijk, the main city of southern West Flanders, wants its retail cores filled with shops and craft businesses. So the city, through its business service Onderneem in Kortrijk, pays an attraction premium to entrepreneurs who open a new branch there. It is not a grant for every starter: it applies to a shop or a craft business, in a licensed retail unit, inside a marked zone. This guide explains which zone pays which amount, which conditions you must meet, how the application works, and what else Kortrijk offers starters.

If you are new to Belgium: the regulation and the online form are in Dutch, and the city expects a Belgian business with an enterprise number and a Belgian accountant. Line those up before you sign a lease.

Which amount in which zone

The zones are on the maps in an annex to the regulation. A trader who moves into a retail core from outside it can also get the premium. A trader who moves within a core and leaves a unit in zone A or B empty cannot.

The conditions you must meet

Before you apply:

• You open a shop in an existing retail unit with planning permission, inside a retail core, and not in a retail park.
• Your main activity is one of the retail activities in the regulation, or you are a craft business recognised by the Federal Public Service Economy or carrying the Handmade in Belgium label of UNIZO, the Flemish association of self-employed people.
• Hospitality does not qualify, and neither does taking over an existing business.
• You have a lease or a deed of purchase that runs longer than one year.
• You have a three-year financial plan and work with a licensed bookkeeper, accountant or auditor, also for three years after the premium.

After payment:

• You run the business for at least three years.
• Within six months you are actually open, with fixed opening hours, at least four days and twenty hours a week.
• The city may publicise your premium. In its series called Etalage, businesses like a carpet shop on Doorniksestraat and a delicatessen on Leiestraat explain how they used it.

The permit comes first

In many cases you need an environmental permit, the Flemish planning permit: for instance if the unit changes from hospitality or office to retail, for work on the shop front, or for a shop sign. Kortrijk asks you to file that application before you apply for the premium, and to add the file number, or proof that you need no permit, to your application. Ask the city's Team BMW, which handles these permits, before you start.

How the application works

1. Apply within six months of signing your lease or the deed of purchase, through the online form.
2. Attach: a description of your project, the registered lease or deed, and your three-year financial plan.
3. Within 45 days you hear whether your file is complete; if something is missing, you have 30 days to send it.
4. The city executive decides on the award and the amount, and the city draws up an agreement. If you disagree, you can appeal within 30 days.
5. Request payment within 90 days of the agreement. Miss that and you lose the premium.
6. The city executive decides within 60 days on payment; the transfer follows within two months, as long as there is budget. If the budget is used up, payment can move to the next year.

What else Kortrijk offers

Kortrijk Kiemt is not a grant but a cheap place to test your idea: partners such as Unizo, Starterslabo, Designregio, Hangar K, Howest, KU Leuven Kulak, Ghent University and Vives coach starters there, and the city runs events and training. If you open a shop in a retail core afterwards, you can still apply for the attraction premium.

Worked example: a concept store on Doorniksestraat

Had the same shop rented a unit in the core of the centre, zone A, it would have been 10,000 euros. Had it been a coffee bar, nothing: hospitality falls outside the attraction premium.

Kortrijk next to other cities in West Flanders

Kortrijk stands out for the high premium in zone A, but excludes hospitality. If you are opening a coffee bar or a restaurant, look at Roeselare or Bruges, or at the project subsidy for traders' committees in Kortrijk itself. All four are in the register of our guide to starter grants in Flanders.

Before you sign

• Ask for the zone map and check which zone your unit is in.
• Ask Team BMW whether you need an environmental permit, and file that application first.
• Make sure your lease runs longer than one year and is registered.
• Find a licensed accountant; the regulation says you need one for three years.

Craft businesses and Handmade in Belgium

The attraction premium is not only for shops. A craft business qualifies too: a shoemaker, a jeweller who makes their own pieces, a furniture maker with a shop. You then show recognition from the Federal Public Service Economy or the Handmade in Belgium label of UNIZO. For a craft business your story is your strongest marketing: show how you work, with photos and a short video in your shop, on your site and in your profile.

After the premium

The premium is paid while budget remains, and for the three years after it the city watches your opening hours. Keep the hours in your profile and on your site the same as in your application, and tell customers when they change.

What the premium does not do

The premium helps with your start-up costs; it does not bring customers. Kortrijk lies a few kilometres from the French-speaking part of Belgium and from northern France, so many customers search in French, typing Courtrai instead of Kortrijk. Get these ready before you open:

• A Google Business Profilewith your hours, your address and photos; see create a Google Business Profile.
• A first sitewith your offer and, if you have French-speaking customers, a French version; see local SEO and multilingual website development.
• An opening with your street,partly paid for through the project subsidy for traders' committees.

What a first site costs is in our website cost calculator; how marketing works for a business in West Flanders is on our page about a marketing agency in Bruges. What cities pay for renovating a building is in shop front grants in Flanders.