Is Społem popular in Poland

I must admit I have never seen a Społem grocery store when I have visited Poland, but this article piqued my interest. Great description of the history of food co-operatives. I wonder if the pioneers of this were Marxist or Christian in the late 19th Century? Anyone shop there?


culture.pl/en/article/lets-get-together-spolem-the-polish-co-operative-movement

Oh they were just great and we really miss them - convenient opening hours, the best products served fresh, excellent service from pretty smiling young girls. They always seemed to have exactly what you needed

As bad as the co-op to be fair

In my hometown we still have a few including one in the square.

Plus:
-usually good/great localized
-local produce 99%. I even once saw.a farmer just delivering some leeks,lettuce etc in a small hand held wagon
-usually pretty good selection of goods considering space.

Cons:
-awful, and I mean AWFUL customer service. That takes like first 10 places
-no promotions etc. Flat, not so low, prices.
-outdated, not nice interior. unaesthetic

This sounds like an excellent opportunity to start a thriving business venture.


And clean, nothing worse then having rotten produce under a table or rats running around.
I was wondering what I would do to keep me busy when I retired in Poland.
Thank you for the great idea Lenka.

Great if you run a Społem or Korepatywa will gladly volunteer when i visit polska :)

You have to be careful with them, because some of them are now for-profit businesses with similar branding to other ones.

For what it's worth, I don't really value them. They're overpriced compared to other supermarkets, the service is usually lousy, the products are pretty bland... meh, pass. I rather prefer the eko-shops that have opened up everywhere in the last few years.

I never quite figured out how (or even if) you could join Społem. No information in store at all.


I noticed that; it was actively bad.

Having food that's fresh and local is a big plus over Żabka or Carrefour Express though.