Stores, Malls or Markets in Poland

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If you are looking for souvenirs to bring home to your friends and relatives, Sukiennice or the Cloth Hall in the center of the Main Market Square is the right place to puchase souvenirs. We discovered that cost of souvenirs selling in the Cloth Hall is even cheaper than those selling in the shops around Krakow. Sukiennice is located in the Old Town which is listed in UNESCO's world heritage sites. The selling prices of souvenirs especially t-shirts and refrigerators' magnets in most stalls in the Cloth Hall are fixed and they don't allow customers to bargain. Nevertheless if you wish to purchase jewelleries (like amber) and other local crafts (like tankards) from other stalls in the Cloth Hall, we suggest that you bargain with them as they have marked up their prices rather high as we were told. You may even end up paying just half of the asking price! Anyway shopping in Krakow and Zakopane in particular is quite cheap compared to many other cities in Europe.

What to buy: We purchased several t-shirts, postcards, souvenir books on Krakow and refrigerators' magents from Sukiennice.

What to pay: Their selling prices are quite competitive, certainly cheaper than those selling in the shops nearby.

Krakowski Kredens is a chain of shops offering traditional Polish food. The shop decoration as well as the product packing and labels reminds of a shop as it was in early 20th century. They also have outlets in a number of shopping malls or the Alma supermarkets. Food is of a very good quality - their kabanosy, for example, beat the average supermarket ware by far

What to buy: Porc lovers will love this - there is a strong focus on kielbasa and ham as well as szmalec (lard). Vegetarians or those with a sweet tooth need not despair, though: You will also find an assortment of cheese (oscypek in particular), jams and preserves

What to pay: prices are shown per kilogram. they are a bit higher than similar products in supermarkets, but then, so is the food quality

Biedronka (ladybug) is a very popular shop (like LIdl) that you can find it everywhere in Poland.It started with portuguese products but now has polish as well.

What to buy: Try the big variety of teas and yogurts, they are delicious.Also you can find a kind of redbull made only for biedronka shops the taste is exactly the same as the original redbull.

Sklep monopolowy is a basic name for normal liquor store, which is not hard to find in Poland...

What to buy: As well as other Eastern (although Central:P) countries like Ukraine or Russia, Poland is a country rich in "high-voltage" alcohole, there are tens of kinds of vodka (wódka really), produced by tens of companies, drank during prestigous banquets and on village weddings...

What to choose???
CZYSTA- clear transparent vodka, the traditional and most common one, basis of many drinks, here drank with a few specific rituals. 0,5L of a decent brand (Soplica, Sobieski, Wyborowa, Zytnia, Cracovia or other Polish one- I won't mention the international brands, because you've got them there) cost some 20-25zl (some €5-6), depending where you buy them.

KRUPNIK- my personal favourite, it's produced with old recepies, with different roots and honey. Easy to drink although as strong as normal. Pricing like above

ZOLADKOWA GORZKA- quite similar, very tasty with milk. similar pricing.

ZUBROWKA- quite well known, produced "on" the grass from specific places (secret:P), great with apple juice. Pricing the same.

Finally- the best brands. Those are also czyste/clear ones, but the most excuisite. Don't expect to pay less than 50zl (some €13), but prepare for expenses like 100-200zl or more (€50). Those brands are Chopin, Biala Dama, Original Polish Vodka (how original:P) and a few others.

PS: There also are some that cost like €2, but I don't advise those, or Ukrainian contrabanda :P

Hallo everybody! Spending few days in Berlin, I decided to go (for a one-day trip) to Poland. The closest big city was Poznan (spelled somehow else in Polish, but it doesn't matter).
Talking to saome young people (most polish young people seem to speak good English!) I was told that the best shopping mall in the world (inthe class of middle-sized) is in Poznan and it's called Stary Browar, what can be translated as 'The Old Brewery', as it's placed in the former brewery from 18th or 19th cent.

http://starybrowar5050.com/en/miejsce/idea

What to buy: Everything! From food (two good supermarkets on the level -1) throughout books, CDs, clothing, computers, shoes, souvenirs... A lot of thing to buy :)

What to pay: Depending - ice cream for 1,00-1,50-2,00 EUR, books for appr 10-15 EUR, CDs - similarly, shoes or clothes - appr. 15-20% cheaper than in Berlin, so it's worth coming!

There are so many things to see, browse and shop for in Krakow's main square, which is called "Rynek Główny" in Polish. The square itself is quite huge, and branching off from it are tons of tiny little streets with all kinds of little boutiques, souvenir shops, clothing stores, perogie restaurants and more. Also, it is a short walk from the Jewish quarter and the Royal Palace of Krakow. I had to come back to the main square several times during my stay before I felt like I'd seen everything there was to see! Take an afternoon or two just to stroll around here and see what you can find.

What to buy: Souvenirs, clothing, perogies, same sorts of things you'd buy in any large city. There are several traditional Polish restuarants, Mexican and Japanese food (with Polish influence) and horse-carriage rides.

What to pay: Things are a lot cheaper in Poland than in Western Europe and North America, even in the capital. Espect to pay maybe $10 for shirts and general clothing items, a few dollars for a couple souvenirs and only $3 for lunch! (all USD)

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This place is known for its workshops producing almost everything from wicker-from different baskets, boxes, toys to furniture.

What to buy: We bought there armchairs and baskets, and boxes...

What to pay: As usually it's up to you how much money you could spend and how many items you are able to pack into your car, but prices are very low. Armchairs are 12-20 euro, baskets 2,5-7, boxes 7-25.

Laces from Koniakow are known all over Poland and abroad. Tableclothes, doilies but also beautiful underwear are all handmade of cotton twine. Frankly speaking, all those g-strings and bras divided the small community of Koniakow in half. Some consider them a real disgrace, the others think that this is a way to keep up with modern times and a chance to develop. Nobody can deny, though, that all those lace 'beauties' are very special and unique. So if you are in Bielsko Biala or another place in Beskid Slaski, go to Koniakow.
You can also buy lace underwear from Koniakow via Internet (the address is below)