A trip to a Polish supermarket

Sorry I was just having fun with a little exaggeration! :)

I posted this on another thread but i thought it fitted here too. Dave Allen -Supermarkets

No need to travel so far to see a fight when people go nuts for bargains. Boxing Day is just a few weeks away. There'll be plenty of fighting.

I see that the German (?) chain Plus is being replaced with/by Biedronka. It won't change the drunks stumbling in and buying those nasty 'beers'.

I have never seen a Biedronka...maybe I just don't notice them. Is it like Społem? Those are all over....

I bet you have , but maybe didn,t notice it...they are everywhere...big yellow sign , with a ladybird on...

Yeah, as wildrover said, look for the ladybug sign

Weird because I know where most places to buy food are in the main parts of the city and have never seen one. It's all Albert's (CarreFour) , MarcPol, Tesco, Auchan, Pitor & Pawel and Społem in my experience along with the little independent shops.

Good old Biedronka.

U have them up there in Wrocław too, WB?

Man, I feel like George Bush when he asked the Brazilian PM, "do you have blacks too?". LOL, treat it as a rhetorical question if u must.

and you find them in Krakow too... in case you'd go to visit... ;)

Krakow is a fantastic place. I've been there only 3 times in 4 years but it'd be nice to go shopping there.

In Poznań we have all big chains Piotr i Paweł, Biedronka etc.
From smaller shops the most popular is this chain:

chata polska

chatapolska.pl

So it is u again £ukasz? I thought as much.

Lewiatan is pretty decent here. It doesn't have much outwith the ordinary but it's worth shopping in

Why getting irritated when waiting to pay? The reason why almost 75% of the cashtills are closed? Because the retail vultures fail to pay decent wages for such a crappy job (i.e. handling customers as you).

Just do as me, grab a copy of Fakty when waiting, immerse yourself in the local very graphic gossip.

Just pay with your direct debit card. What is the problem here ? I do not get it.


Everybody knows the bread in any given supermarket is horrible.
Actually I am buying mine in the local Statoil station, it might be pre-bake stuff but is very tasty.

To me you sound a just a typical whining expat. Get a life. Or go to Tesco after midnight.
I am doing shopping every Sat morning in Tesco at Górczewska.
No big deal. Just my shopping list, being there around 08:30, waiting in line for paying and going home.
What is the problem, then ?

Or go to Alma, Bomi, Kuchnia Świat, Piotr i Paweł, or Mini Europa. No waiting lines, good produce and "nice prices".

Haha...yet another self conscious Polish male who get's offended by someone not praising his nation.

Debit card? Are you serious...how is that somehow easier? They have the change they just don't want to bother counting it out or handing it to you. IT IS THEIR JOB and they are the one's making it harder by being like this.

And maybe some of us don't feel like getting up to go shopping at 8:30 with all of you early birds? Morning people always think they are somehow better...that makes me laugh.

A lot of what I wrote was parody and in fun...but as usual someone got their peepee hurt over it and sounded off.

Funny stuff ;)

But he had a point about the poor wages being a disincentive though. I wouldn't last one day in that job, I'd be cursing under my breath a bit too often.

Sure...I have said before it is a crap job...but then he went and blamed me for them being like this. If they took the money and handed me the change all would be good. They make it MORE difficult for both of us by playing these games.

He is just mad I didn't say shopping at the supermarket in Poland was better than shopping ANY OTHER PLACE IN THE WORLD WOO HOOO!!

Hey did you know the supermarkets in Poland have higher IQs than all the other supermarkets in Europe? It's in a study..look if you don't believe me ;PP

They are thriftier, end of story. Shopping IQ, what a pile of trash!!

I think they expect confrontation here. I got a really weird look in Lumpeks today, followed by a big smile when I took all the smush (small change) out of my wallet and put it into the palm of my hand. I let her take what she wanted to make up 4zł's worth. She was happy. Is my shopping IQ high? Come on Prince, it's my burning desire to know ;) Or was I just cooperative?

just want to say super post very funny and true happen all the time with me to the very last detail on your post he he he

well if you go to that former albert than you will get what is there. that is the worst place i have shopped at and i am more than willing to go other places even if they are less convienent

Whose post, gtd's or sobieski's?

I am Belgian, not Polish :)
Why keep on whining about the change bit ?
Just put in your 4-digit PIN, takes a second and that is it.

The only moment I got mad was in our local Społem. That kind of typical kind woman with purple hair. Barked at an old guy in front of me because he could not pay in 2 seconds' time for his bread. He got nervous and she got even more Gestapo-like.

This made me soooo angry.

Then I was challenged... had to pay for some wędliny a few zloty.... had a bag of change, but just refused to give her a hand :) She knew I had then change but with a big smile I handed over a 200 PLN note. She made me wait something like 10 minutes before handing over the change. But I did not care.

It was a moral victory in some way I guess.

Shopping in any supermarket anywhere in the world is a challenge.

And, besides.... yes being a part of the "morning people" club is a nice feeling :)

gtd you did make one major error - stay away from supermarkets on sunday if possible.

I found a new shop in Wroclaw a few weeks ago its called Alma and guess what they have great (not chewy) fillet steak and Irish lamb, it costs a fortune at 60 pln for a 8 oz steak and around 150 pln / kg leg of lamb but it was worth it. They also have all kinds of foreign foods which you wouldnt expect to find in Poland, with the exception of Branstons pickle. Everything is overpriced and theres no waiting at tills. The Waitrose of Poland if you like. I believe there are two in Wroclaw so id imagine they will soon if not already be setting up in other major cities.

Yes for sure...or Saturday...or weekdays between 5 and 7pm.

Overpriced? Hell the normal "cheap" markets are overpriced so I am sure that place is absolutely criminal.


I am confused...you are insulting me and giving me grief yet you do this? WTF?

products for less than 50zł - delivery cost: 19,90zł
50 to 99zł - 14,90zł
from 100 to 149zł - 9,90zł
More than 150zł - delivery for free.

I have wondered how well this works? For example...fruits and vegetables are usually horrible quality at most places and you have to select the few decent ones. I can just imagine them tossing some bananas in the bag to fill your order and them being all brown and old. I guess if they were polite and decent about it this service might be attractive.

Then again I rarely spend over 50pln per trip and don't see the sense in paying so much for someone to carry it up to me.

UP DATED:


I haven't checked it myself but you can click on product and you can find customers opinion.

I have taken lettuce:

It is map with cities and towns with Alma shops.

Great thread!

The local chain of supermarkets where I live has just recently instituted a new policy. They have removed all shopping baskets from the store (You should see the confused looks of customers as they walk in the door). You are now required to use a shopping trolley to enter. So now when I bring my 1 year old shopping with me I have to push his pram with one hand (taking a pram into any Polish establishment is a thread unto itself), and the trolley with the other. As always the trolley refuses to go in a straight line and I have to pull the pram in reverse as it fishtails all over the place.

And of course in the middle of every isle is a short squat babka in a beret and overcoat with shoulder pads, whose purpose in life is to act oblivious to the world around her and shift to whichever side of the isle I am attempting to pass her on. A bit like playing Frogger.

The first time I experienced the new no-baskets policy I was with my wife and we attempted to just go straight on in sans trolley. The security guy came running over in a panic. He was certainly intimidating, all 75 years of him, with his sweater tucked into his trousers and bright orange badge. So I was more than a bit embarrassed when he begged us to take a trolley, or he would "lose his job".

The only reason I paid cash here, is because that woman was terrorizing the old guy in front of me. I hate such kind of behave.