Hungarians catch mall madness
June 29, 1997
Web posted at: 3:24 p.m. EDT (1924 GMT)From Correspondent Jackie Shymanski
BUDAPEST, Hungary (CNN) -- Hungary is a country rich with culture, stunning architecture and beautiful vistas. Visitors can tour Gothic and Baroque cathedrals, take the thermal baths whose waters promise to cleanse and cure, and then relax in the glory of a sunset on the Danube.
Will they meet Budapest residents there? Not many. Natives are more likely to be found absorbing the pre-fab culture of the shopping mall.
Zoltan Pap and his family are among the horde of spellbound Hungarian bargain hunters who routinely make Budapest's new shopping malls a weekend family outing. The malls have casinos, fast food outlets, even an indoor skating rink. There is so much to see and do that Hungarians can't seem to get enough of them.
Hungarian malls have food courts, skating rinks and hordes of people, as CNN's Jackie Shymanski reports.
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"It is strange in Hungarian terms," admitted Pap. "But that is it's magic."
"There are so many shops, and you can buy a lot of things," Pap's wife Esther said.
Unfortunately for some of the mall's stores, popularity hasn't necessarily translated into sales.
"We do make a profit, although we had higher hopes," said Nagy-Szilvia Babiak, one store owner. "But we think it will get better."
Analysts say she is probably right. Western business conglomerates backing the malls expect to eventually rake in great profits, especially since prices at the malls are a bargain compared to regular retail prices in Budapest. More stores under one roof mean lower prices.
And cheap goods appeal to buyers trying to make ends meet in a market economy.
"I buy food here because everything is cheaper," said one older woman. "We're pensioners, so we go where it's cheap."
But the mall concept is less appealing to owners of the quaint, old-fashioned boutiques where Hungarians used to shop. The boutiques now face the same threat as their North American counterparts -- gradual decline, and eventual extinction.
Malls are mushrooming all over the Hungarian capital. Six are already open for business, and at least another dozen are planned.
But an initial positive response is waning, and the Budapest civic government is now considering restricting this mega-mall craze.
Nevertheless, mall makers argue, with 2 million potential consumers in the capital, there is more than enough business to go around.
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