Saturday at the malls

It was raining this morning, a good day to pursue the quintessential American pastime, visiting the shopping mall. Bratislava has three very modern ones. Thanks to the excellent public transportation system, I visited all three in a few hours.

Polus City Center is in New Town (Nové Mesto), north of the restored historic area of town. The Center is spanking new and extensive construction in the area is underway for new apartment and office buildings, but the surrounding area is still pretty dreary.

At all three centers, the big surprise was the paucity of surprises. They look like any typical American mall, with escalators, benches, high ceilings, food courts, and, yes, McDonald’s. At all three I visited, the national post office had outlets open throughout the day, as did numerous banks.


Another typical scene at American malls: skylights, people movers, live plants, and stores of all varieties. Familiar store names included Levis, Benetton, Hilfiger, Kodak, and T-Mobile. Most stores were not familiar to me, but the mix of types of stores was. The various hallways were christened with familiar American names: Broadway, Madison, Wall, 5th Avenue. Regent Street from London was also represented, as was Paris' Champs L'Elysee. The Center’s English-language web site: http://www.poluscitycenter.sk/?lang=en

Avion Shopping Center is east of town near the Bratislava airport. The #63 bus line goes directly there, and it was packed today. Stores were a familiar mix, with some familiar names. H&M is a Swedish chain that just opened in San Francisco. Marks & Spencer is a British clothing chain. Peek and Cloppenburg is a German clothing chain that I visited in Vienna.


IKEA, the Swedish store that invaded California 20 years ago with great success, has a separate building. The parking lot is as jammed as any California mall on Saturday.



Small cars are on display in the entry hall. Those prices are in Crowns -- about $17,000.





An indoor skating rink was being readied for another round of skating.





Entertainment for kids can be found all over this center.







Hypermarket is a humongous grocery story in the mall.




One surprise today was the absorption of American culture, beyond just brandnames and styles of shopping. Here is the L.A. restaurant!




The restaurant is decorated with huge photographs of scenes from Los Angeles.






The Santa Fe restaurant features a "California cuisine" menu with dishes named after California cities.





I told the clerk that I was from California, and he seemed a little embarrassed. I could not figure out how names had been applied to dishes. The Long Beach entre was a fried cheese patty, which I have never eaten anywhere. I ordered the Sun Valley Salad, which included corn, broccoli, black olives, lettuce, and chicken. I have no idea what that has to do with Sun Valley. They need a little refinement in their light California cuisine, and I wonder if they know Sun Valley is in Idaho and Sante Fe is in New Mexico, but I love the sentiment.

I went to the Street Café for another fabulous latte. Indeed the biggest difference from American malls was the wide availability of cafes with wonderful coffee. I was struck by the black-and-white photograph tableau under the Café name showing the Brooklyn Bridge and the Twin Towers. I wondered if anybody but me noticed the poignancy of that scene today.

The McDonald’s here had a drive-though window called “McDrive.” It also had parking for the disabled, something I have not seen here before. Here is the Avion web site: http://www.avion.sk/english/

For my final stop, I went to Au Park, which is on the other side of the Danube, just opposite Old Town. The #50 bus ends there and also was packed. Yes, that’s another McDonald’s.

The interior is on three levels with glass elevators, escalators, and the familiar mix of stores. I even found a huge bookstore with its own coffee shop and lounge chairs, á la Barnes & Noble.

The signs at the Robinson’s restaurant (with a jungle wilderness theme) showed prices in both Slovak Crowns and Euros, something I do not see here much. Either they are getting ready for the conversion to the Euro in 2009 or they are hoping to attract shoppers from nearby Austria, just a few miles away. Here is the Au Park web site: http://www.aupark.sk/generate_page.php?page_id=1229

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