Shopping Excursions

We have spent the last two days at malls observing consumer behavior and conducting ethnographical research. It has been very interesting seeing what their malls look like and to find difference between the shopping experiences here and back home. The first mall that we went to was the Galeria Krakowska, which is right in the city and is seen as the luxury mall. This mall had three levels and was filled with all different types of shops, immediately we noticed that the stores were much much smaller than those that we have back home. Also the amount of shoe stores that were in the mall was crazy! They all primarily had sturdy fashion boots because people walk so much here and I was envious of the selection and prices! Although there were a ton of stores that we could shop in that was not the purpose of our visit. We went into a variety of stores and watched as the customers inspected the products, we didn't find anything especially unusual but the way that the stores were set up was different. The stores advertised sales with % signs but it didn't tell you the percentage off, and since the stores were so small everything was very cramped together. The mall also had a grocery store inside of it, and this was one of the most crowed locations. There was a store similar to Best Buy but the selection was unbelievable there were about 35 different irons, hair dryers, and other products similar to this. We had fun browsing around and getting a sense of what the consumers are like here in Poland.

Today we went to a mall in the suburban area called Bonarka. Again we observed the consumer behavior and continued our research. This mall was huge and had much larger stores than the Galeria. As we entered we saw a very luxurious and fancy site. There was a water fountain, plants, and fancy table settings for the cafe that was in the middle. There were also very expensive stores as we walked in and the mall had a different feel to it. As we browsed around we saw very similar things to our first day at the mall but something interesting was that people were pushing shopping carts around the mall. We later found that this mall also had a grocery store, but this one was about three times the size of the one in the last mall. The cereal and pasta was displayed in open boxes where you could scoop the amount that you wanted which we found very interesting. The shelves were very very tall and you couldn't reach the top two shelves. After wandering through the mall for a while we headed back to our hotel.

Tonight I went out for dinner with one of the girls that I have gotten to know on the trip and we got paninis at a cafe that were delicious! We also stopped at a chocolate shop and she tried a few different pieces of chocolate. She tried one that was recommended by the woman working there and it was chocolate with chili in it, she said it was SUPER spicy, but she liked it! It's been fun to get to know this city and it's amazing how well I know my way around after only 5 days here. Having the freedom to explore has really helped me learn my way around and I enjoy just meandering the streets and finding the fun shops and cafes.