During Communist control in Poland, the government regulated all economic activity, down to the family grocery shopping. Buying food meant standing in line to get what you were authorized on your ration card. If you were allowed to get chicken and the only thing left was pork, you were out of luck. The Solidarność museum in Gdańsk shows just how difficult things were: long lines and empty shelves. There was a store called Pewex where you could buy American things like Coca-Cola and Wrangler jeans, but you had to pay in American dollars, which were not easily obtainable. People about our age have mentioned buying records on the black market so they could listen to Dire Straits and Journey.
Fast forward to today: Last week, the sixth mall in Poznań opened. For a city of 566,000 people (about the size of Seattle) that seems like a lot of malls. And they are all within 6 miles of our apartment. One of them has won multiple international awards for its design.
Poland went from being able to buy nothing to able to buy anything. I enjoy the variety of things you can find at the mall. The malls here have at least one supermarket inside, which contributes to their popularity. When we went to the mall last week we found ostrich eggs in the supermarket, right next to the chicken eggs.
After buying your ostrich eggs, you can stroll over to the Sony store and buy a 70” TV that costs more than a car. The electronics stores (similar to Best Buy) carry refrigerators and washing machines. Want Cuban cigars and high-end vodka? Got it. There is even a “World of Food” store that carries American staples like mac ’n’ cheese and Hershey’s syrup at staggeringly high prices.
On the flip side, there are some things that you just can’t find. Brown sugar is prohibitively expensive, index cards are a foreign concept, pecans don’t seem to exist here, and all swimming trunks come in one style only: Speedo.
Despite the economic freedom, some old habits die hard: Wranglers are still very popular, people buy their Christmas carp three weeks ahead of time, and Dire Straits is still on the radio. I’ve heard “Sultan of Swing” more times than I can count…
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