Across the road from Warsaw's Sheraton Hotel is a cooperative food store that goes under the Społem brand, (indeed one of over 4,000 such shops around Poland). Społem, or to give its full name, the National Supervision Union of Consumer Co-operatives (KZRSS) "Społem", is a real throw-back to the old days.Well, there are still Co-ops in the UK, so I won't labour the anachronism point. But once upon a time, Społem was the state monopolist on all food retailing. Well do I remember entering these shops in the 1980s. All that was available was vinegar, matches, baking soda, parcel string, scouring powder, bottles of fizzy mineral water with rusty caps... er, that's it. Things changed; foreign players - Tesco, Carrefour, Real, Biedronka and dozens of others entered the Polish market, but Społem is still with us.
Let's analyse the shop front. A sign says POLECAMY MROŻONKI (WE RECOMMEND FROZEN PRODUCE). Potential customers are wooed with the come-hither slogan: WARZYWA OWOCE W CIĄGŁEJ SPRZEDAŻY (FRUIT VEGETABLES ON SALE CONTINUOUSLY). A hand-written sign announces January's key name-days; an aide memoire to persuade the local Eugeniuszes, Bogumiłas and Rajmunds (and friends thereof)* to pop in for a celebratory box of Ptasie Mleczko. This gauche lack of retail sophistication is rather nice to see these days.
There's much charm in these post-communist throwbacks; Warsaw would be a duller city without them. Click here for another old-school Warsaw shopping experience.
There's much charm in these post-communist throwbacks; Warsaw would be a duller city without them. Click here for another old-school Warsaw shopping experience.
* These first names are almost exclusive to Poland's over-70s.
I agree about the charm of these places but it can only be a matter of time before this shop, one I know well, becomes an 'Albert'. Then they'll clear away the hooky taxi guys who live outside and we will have a fully sanitized area outside of the Sheraton! :-(
ReplyDeleteThere must be something about the ownership of Społem that makes modernisation difficult.
Talking about difficult. Leaving comments here is a real bind! I'm forever having to re-type them twice (like I am now) because the first attempt gets rejected because my wordpress details or the encryption test is a failure!
Społem's a co-op, so it's not the state's to privatise. If the UK's Co-op has managed to survive the nation's Tesco-isation, then I guess Społem's odds of surviving into the 2020s are good.
ReplyDeleteA propos of hooky taxi drivers, have you heard the urban myth that all those rip-off merchants that ply their trade by the Sheraton, at Okęcie ('Taxi, sir?'), the Rotunda, and, until recently, the Dworzec Centralny, are all retired milicjanci?
Comments - might by a Wordpress thing. I've had similar complaints from other users. I shall flag this one up with Blogger.