We asked our team for their shop stories and memories to demonstrate the impact shops have on people. This is the third in the series.
- Lucie’s story – Prestons in Leeds, Briggate
- Ellie’s story – Frisio’s in Leighton Buzzard
- Pawel’s story – All shops after 1989 in Poland
Shops are more than just places of transaction; they are hubs that foster connections, create interactions, and build a sense of belonging, thereby strengthening community bonds.
Shoplight’s collaboration with the Retail Trust underscores shops’ essential role in our success. By partnering with the Retail Trust, we can give back to the frontline retail workers who are the backbone of the industry. Without their dedication, stores wouldn’t be possible. With every purchase from Shoplight’s Buy Blue biopolymer lighting range, a 2% donation is made to the Retail Trust.
Pawel’s story
Our next Shop Stories features Pawel, the Production Manager at Shoplight. His heartfelt narrative explores the impact of Communism on Polish shops up to 1989 and the transformations that followed its fall.
During the Communist era, shops stocked only government-approved items, eliminating the concept of choice and impulse purchases. Transactions were made with a combination of cash and vouchers. Each voucher represented essentials like meat, bread, and milk, sufficient to last a family for a month, with rations allocated based on family size. During Christmas, families would get a little extra, such as tropical fruits.
1980s Polish P-1 food ration card includes a monthly allotment of, among other items, meat, 250 g (8.8 oz) of candy, 1 kg (2.2 lb) of flour, 250 g (8.8 oz) of lard,
This voucher system was a means for Communist leaders to control the population, a concept that might be difficult for many of us to grasp today. To gain some autonomy, people would trade vouchers; for instance, a family needing extra petrol might exchange their meat voucher with another family.
A photograph taken by Chris Niedenthal in a meat store, in Warsaw 1982. (Photo from culture. pl).
Coffee was a luxury, rationed to one sachet per person. Communities, often living in tall apartment buildings, supported each other. Young children would help by moving through queues to secure more coffee for their families.
Pawel vividly remembers the first time he saw chewing gum, brought back by a friend from abroad. Such items were unattainable in Poland, as no imports were allowed.
When Pawel’s parents needed new furniture, they discovered the delivery schedule and took turns queuing outside the shop for about a week. Upon reaching the front, they could only purchase what was available, resulting in mismatched furniture for most families.
Waiting in line at the Meat Store.
When Communism collapsed in Poland, the country entered a transition phase. Borders opened, allowing citizens to travel to Germany to buy products in bulk and bring them back to sell locally. People could now purchase items with money, gaining complete control over what and how much they could buy. Thanks to imports, shops were suddenly filled with a variety of new items, many of which had never been seen before.
Pawel’s favourite treat became Snickers chocolate bars, and he also relished the newfound access to a wide variety of fruits he had never tried before. He describes the post-Communist shopping experience as being like “Disneyland.”
Pawel’s story is a powerful reminder of how economic and political changes can transform everyday life, highlighting the resilience and adaptability of people in the face of such shifts. Once more, this story shows the importance of shops and what they can mean to people especially how they can bring a community together. Examining a world without shops certainly makes you realise the value shops bring to communities.
Photo Credit – https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/food-rationing-communist-poland/
(Photo by Wojtek Laski / Wikimedia Commons / Article based on A ration card for survival – rationing in Communist Poland by Andrzej Zawistowski / Flickr).