Now in my sixth month in Szczecin, I can finally, officially
proclaim that I have walked all five of this city’s shopping malls.
In four of the five cases, I have walked to and from
the shopping malls as well as around them, logging several miles on my
pedometer. However, it really is no mean feat as Szczecin is a fairly small
city – at least by other countries’ standards.
The only one I haven’t walked to is the huge Auchan; a
20-minute bus ride away. But doing so is not entirely out of the question...
In all cases, the offerings are the same: a major grocery
store such as Carrefour or
Auchan; those French retail outlets. An H+M clothing store, represented
globally but headquartered in Great Britain. Some brand of electronics retail
such as Media Mart (German) or RTV Euro. A few sporting goods stores – Nike and
Adidas among them.
CCC, a footwear and bag store, is one of two retail
enterprises featured in every Szczecin shopping center that are genuinely
Polish. The other is RTV Euro.
Home decoration stores go under a variety of names – I’ve
not yet been able to deduce any franchises. Perhaps they are individual
start-ups. Nevertheless, they all feature the same wares: dishes and some
cookware, a few kitchen gadgets, accent pieces – furniture or pillows, and
decorative throws.
It was in these home stores that I formulated this thesis:
for all of the shopping outlets available, this corner of Poland is generally
limited on the variety of products available for purchase.
I believe there is a reason for it!
From the end of the second World War until around 1990,
Poland lived under communist rule. Not only was there little freedom of choice
of any kind, there was little to buy – not that anyone had any extra money to
indulge in any luxuries.
1989 to 1992 saw this country undergo a sort of shock
treatment: a near instantaneous evolution from communism to a market economy.
Sad but true: most
people interpret communism as a political philosophy but it is actually an
economic model, just as socialsm and capitalism are!
In contrast to the strict, spartan former regime, people had
a bit of money and the freedom to spend it as they saw fit, even if there was
not that much to buy at that time.
Before going on wild spending sprees and fully embracing
materialism as a way of life, there were plenty of changes to make in one’s
daily life that would take precedence.
Emilia, the same age as my daughter, lived under the
communist regime until she was around 15 years old. The country being freed of
its economic shackles did not mean that she or her family transformed into a
representation of middle class excess overnight and with wild abandon.
In fact, I can see the ingrained economic repression that
she internalized as a child in her living quarters and in her spending habits.
Perhaps because she is naturally very pretty, she does not
seek or invest in additional beauty treatments such as having her nails done or
her hair treated. One might contend that it is her inherent sense of frugality
that keeps her out of salons.
Her kitchen is fully functional but by other measures would
seem only minimally equipped: there is a two-burner countertop unit for cooking,
but no oven. She does have a microwave and a toaster that she purchased
herself; testaments to her modernity.
Her apartment, on the fourth floor of a building block
erected in the ‘70s, affords little room for excess of any type.
My new friend’s caution with her money – she would sooner
walk than pay for bus fare!, is reflected in the greater society of this city.
Walking all over Szczecin as I do and having investigated
every shopping center in town, I see the same fiscal reserve in other shoppers
who amble around the malls and along the sidewalks.
Seldom does anyone tote more than one laden shopping bag
unless it is from a grocery store. Only infrequently have I seen anyone with a
full shopping cart while in such stores; most consumers stick to baskets – and
even then, they are not completely full by the time they take their place in
the checkout lines.
Clothing stores H+M, and TK Maxx and Mango (American brands)
do not endure swarms of clientele except around the holidays. Even then, people
buy only a few items at a time.
I contrast this reserve in buying with Chinese people’s
spending habits.
China, although still communist (at least in theory),
underwent a similar economic revolution, albeit about 10 years before Poland
did.
·
Shopping malls are consistently crowded with
throngs of people, most of them carrying bags upon bags of new purchases
◦ China’s
H+M shops are, at times, nearly impenetrable for all of the bodies flicking
through the racks!
·
Coffee houses are usually so packed one cannot
find a seat unless you’re willing to share a table with total strangers.
◦ By
contrast, Szczecin’s Starbucks and Columbus Coffee shops fairly echo for the
lack of customers.
·
Ditto at KFC, McDonald’s and other fast food
outlets (Poland’s outlets are also well-frequented, but not on the scale of
China’s outlets).
·
Chinese weddings are lavish spectacles that
speak less of ‘how much we’re in love’ than ‘look at how much money we have!’
·
The Chinese display a certain arrogance over
their wealth; they openly mention how much their car and apartment cost; how
much they spent on parties and other occasions.
Similarly, I correlate Polish cuisine and Polish foods in
general with the spartan existence of years before.
Not that I’ve made deep forays into Polish cooking but what
I have experienced is...
Traditional foods seem rather bland, although there are some
that are particularly tasty; they are usually of the fried variety. In fact,
most ‘traditional’ foods I know of seem to have originated in other countries –
to wit, the cabbage
rolls I lunched on in Gdansk.
Even the pizzas I’ve sampled here are disappointing in their
flavor and texture!
It’s been my experience, at least so far, that foods are
either fried or boiled. That observation is underscored by the distinct lack of
cookware available for sale.
In every shop I’ve been in, there is a vast array of frying
pans and a slightly smaller complement of two-handled soup pots for sale, but
I’ve had to improvise a roasting/grilling set-up because there are none
available on store shelves.
Desserts are either cloyingly sweet or not sweet enough –
one might go so far as to say tasteless.
The overly sweet ones actually burn my mouth with all of
their sugar. Conversely, the traditional bakery treat, a jelly donut, leaves me
with a chemical aftertaste that is not very pleasant. So do most other
pastries.
And, believe it or not, so do ready-made puddings!
The one standout is bread: the variety, texture and flavor
of the breads available here far outshines what is available in other
alimentary categories.
As I continue to walk the streets of Szczecin, I see overt
and covert signs of past oppression everywhere: in the cracked sidewalks and
austere apartment buildings, some with
facades still not repaired from war damage.
I see people, sedately conscious of their privilege in
owning a car; people who surely remember that, not so long ago, the streets
were nearly devoid of personal vehicles. They all drive the speed limit and
obey traffic laws. Their vehicles all seem well-maintained.
Only once have I seen a customized vehicle; it demanded my
attention with its pumping bass. Nowhere have I seen a wrecked car on the road
or heard a blatting muffler.
In the shops: those who carefully select 100 grams of
lunchmeat or decide on a slice of cake, perhaps an extravagant indulgence to be
enjoyed after church. Those weighing the merits of a given product and, even
now when consumerism abounds, their visceral reaction to still finding empty
shelves.
True story: Friday evening, I had just uploaded my latest Superprof article and
headed out to do my weekend shopping.
In the toilet paper aisle, two older couples were exclaiming
and gesturing angrily at a bare shelf.
Although many different types of paper were available, that
particular brand is the best value for the money and had sold out.
I had to wonder: how much of their reaction to the empty
shelf was due to recalling a time, a mere 20 years ago, when store shelves were
routinely empty?
And so, I walk on; through shopping centers that would seem
paltry by some standards, among a people who have not yet forgotten what it
felt like to have only enough to survive.
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