The Mall the Merrier!

Sunday, June 29, 2008
I mentioned something about malls previously but I want to describe what I see now as a new arrival. First, I should say that our apartment is within walking distance of not one, but two malls. I am talking about malls like Independence Center—large, enclosed, self-contained, malls. Neither is as large as the Mall of America in Minneapolis but, you get the idea. The closest one is visible from the window of my computer room.
Let me stop here and take a moment to describe our apartment. It is on the fourth floor of the building (we would say fifth but here the first floor is the “ground” floor and the next floor is the first floor) and we have two bedrooms, an office, a living room/dining room, a galley kitchen, one bathroom, a laundry room—which I will discuss at a later date, and a balcony. The apartment is really lovely with high ceilings, hard wood and tile floors, and comfortable furnishings. We have no air conditioning but so far we haven’t even needed a fan. Even with the windows open, it is fairly quiet. Only occasionally do we hear other people and then it’s not intrusive.
The closest mall is called Blue City and has a large blue glass dome. It is six or seven stories tall with a parking garage located next to it as well as having more parking below it. The other mall is called Carrefour. It is reached by walking through a tunnel under a six lane highway and is smaller, since it is only two or three stories tall. Both of these malls have stores that you might not recognize by name but you certainly would by type. Elizabeth was looking around and saying, “That’s like Old Navy, that’s like Abercrombie, and that’s like Best Buy.” Both malls have grocery stores included in them. The one in Blue City is Piotr y Pavel and the one in Carrefour is Carrefour, although Carrefour is more of a “hypermart”. Both stores contain much more than just groceries. Think of Super Wal-Mart or Super Target but in the case of Carrefour, think much larger. You can find just about anything you need for yourself or your house, except furniture, at Carrefour. I’ve never been much of a mall shopper but it is nice to know that just about anything I might need is only five or ten minutes away—by walking! Mall walking has a whole new meaning for me, now.
With so much of America going to “strip” shopping centers and areas like Zona Rosa where the shops are close but not enclosed, you might wonder why Warsaw is so “mall crazy”. I think the answer lies in history. Poland’s history, the little I’ve read of it, seems to be a series of occupations by other governments. During World War II, the Germans took over Poland and just about wiped Warsaw off the map. Many historic buildings were literally leveled as the Nazis left. Then, we have the years when the Communists were in control. People were not able to buy products they needed and luxuries were simply that, luxuries, and no one was buying them. Now, things are different. The Communists are gone, the economy is booming, and people have more disposable income. In many ways, Warsaw today is like the US in the 1980’s. Everyone seems to be in a hurry and everyone seems to be “upwardly mobile”. The only down side to all this excitement that I can see is that the road system hasn’t been able to keep up with the boom. Traffic is a nightmare and is quite an encouragement for me to walk to the malls!