Gifts & Souvenirs

Yes, that’s a Burberry store you see in Poznań. And Armani. Even Versace. You can wander through the vast, awardwinning Stary Browar mall or the expansive Galeria Malta on scenic Lake Malta and spend złotys until you’ve solved the European debt crisis. But if you’re bringing gifts back to show your loved ones what a trip to Poznań is like, a Burberry bag made in London won’t cut it.

That’s why we gave ourselves a challenge: with a budget of 1000zł and a list of our nearest and dearest, we scoured the city to find gifts that do double duty: bring home a piece of Poland while also impressing our various intended targets. With parents, siblings, kids and significant others on the list we buckled up for a day of shopping around Poznań within our means.


Mom

When we think of what mom would like, one word comes to mind: amber. Poland is renowned for its handsomely shaped fossilized resin, and you can easily find mom a piece of unique jewellery that includes a shimmering piece of the country’s Baltic Gold.

Świat Bursztynu makes amber shopping easy since it is literally all they carry. The store is filled with bracelets, pendants and earrings in all shades of amber (it ranges from the maple colour you’re familiar with to lighter yellows and mossy greens) and a nice range of prices. Another option is W. Kruk, the oldest jewellery company in Poland and highly revered as a result. Their spread isn’t solely amber-centric, but the helpful staff pointed us to a pair of delicate amber drops mom is sure to swoon over, and they took just 129zł out of the budget. So far, so good.

Świat Bursztynu, ul. Półwiejska 42 (C-3, Stary Browar)
W. Kruk, ul. Abpa A. Baraniaka 8, (J-4, Galeria Malta)


Dad

Always the toughest person on our shopping list, dad isn’t going to pretend to love whatever we bring home like mom will – if he thinks we’ve spent in vain he’s going to say so. With the bar set high we kept him in the back of our minds as we wandered Poznań, always on the lookout for something unique. Which is exactly why we were drawn into Antykwariat just off the Stary Rynek.

This vintage bookshop is exactly the kind of place dads get lost in all the time: it’s filled with all manner of old postcards, albums of unique prints, even piles of family photographs from last century. When we found a box filled with old Polish telegrams we knew we hit the jackpot. Perfect for framing, these telegrams come in their original envelopes, and your hotel concierge will get a good laugh out of translating the once-urgent messages for you. At 20zł apiece we bought three for the old man.

Antykwariat Naukowy, (C-2) ul. Paderewskiego 3/5


Brother

Euro 2012 fever has gripped Poland, and with good reason. The European Football Championship happens only every four years, and the successful bid by Poland and Ukraine to co-host the 16-team tournament has meant a flurry of stadium building and infrastructure upgrades nationwide. Poznań will be welcoming inter national soccer fans to Stadion Miejski in June, where local team Lech Poznań usually plays, and the marketing of Euro 2012 gear is in full swing.

Intersport is the official shop of licensed Euro 2012 apparel and that includes an array of t-shirts and sweatshirts in colours and sizes for men and women. With our sporty brother in mind we selected a sweatshirt with the colourful Euro 2012 insignia and hit the register. 130.48zł later we left feeling confident in our purchase. Of course, if you prefer to support the hometown team, you can visit the Lech Poznań shop for blue and white scarves or authentic jerseys.

Intersport, ul. Półwiejska 42 (C-3, Stary Browar)
Lech Poznań Official Shop, ul. Bułgarska 17 (Lech Poznań Stadium, Grunwald)


Sister

Who couldn’t use a little monk-like Zen in their life? The brothers at Tyniec Abbey in Krakow have made themselves the fresh faces of Polish monastic life, with an order that produces an amazing variety and quantity of high-quality goods on the premises. Fortunately you don’t have to head to the Abbey to get your hands on them.

At Produkty Benedyktyńskie, a small shop tucked discreetly on Św. Marcin, shoppers can find everything these productive monks are churning out – and our eyes caught on the shelves laden with sweet-smelling beauty products for our sister. Bottles of all natural nettle shampoo and marigold soap are under 10 zł apiece, and tubes of hand cream – a winter essential – are just 12zł. Throw in a relaxing herbal tea and your sister is guaranteed to appreciate this monk makeover. We left the store with a bag full of bottles for 46.30zł

Produkty Benedyktyńskie, (C-2) ul. Św. Marcin 12


Child

Based on the hypnotic effect the overstuffed souvenir stalls on the Stary Rynek have on children, we’re pretty sure you could get away with bringing home a cheap pinwheel or sparkly magnet and you’d have yourself a satisfied pint-sized customer. But you can do better.

Salon Posnania is a souvenir shop where the word ‘tacky’ doesn’t even come into play. The city has done an impressive and stylish job of branding itself with a simple blue star, and Salon Posnania has used that signature image on all matter of gift items in a way we can actually call classy. Where do kids come in? We snagged a child’s t-shirt with the famous city hall butting goats (see page 81 for an explanation) comically rendered in the recognizable Poznan blue. The goats will charm your tot, and the cute T will last longer than a cheap souvenir. The damage? Just 46zł.

Salon Posnania, (B-2) ul. Ratajczaka 44


Grandparents

If your gran is anything like ours then you’ve heard the same insistence we have our entire lives: ‘Don’t spend your hardearned money on me!’ So we set out to find grandparent gifts that would be useful but still indicative of Poland. When we passed Ceramika Bolesławiecka, with its giant painted teapot out front, we knew we’d hit the jackpot.

The small shop specializes in handcrafted and hand-painted ceramics originating in southwest Poland, with many of the patterns forming an important part of the shared Silesian culture of Germans and Poles. The brightly coloured designs are attractively simple and cover pieces as small as sugar bowls and as big as bakeware. Bolesławiec pottery dates back to the 14th century (older than gran!) and is well known for its artistic tradition. We selected a sizeable mug for gramps and a flowerpot for gran and laid down 71.91zł for the honour.

Ceramika Bolesławiecka, (B-2) ul. Mielżyńskiego 16


Boyfriend/Husband

One word: beer. We’re not talking about the mass-produced Tyskie and Żywiec you find at every turn in Poland, but the small craft brews that, when you stumble upon them in small Polish pubs, make you feel like you’ve uncovered a secret. Ministerstwo Browaru is a miniscule basement shop that is wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bottles. The helpful owner is a veritable encyclopaedia of beer, and when we told him our mission he suggested picking out six different Polish brews and toting them home in one of the store’s handmade wooden crates. We were instantly charmed (though fearful of packing such an oddly-shaped item) and selected a wheat and pils made by the shop itself, a Ciechan porter, an apple beer made by Browar Kormoran, a dark wheat by Jurajskie and a honey beer by Browaru Jabłonowo for 52.98zł.

Ministerstwo Browaru, (B-2) ul. Ratajczaka 32


Girlfriend/Wife

Yes is a Poland-wide chain of jewellery stores you can find in nearly any mall, however the store on Paderewskiego off the Rynek in Poznań is different. Owner Maria Magdalena Kwiatkiewicz has set her location up as a showcase of Polish jewellery artists that constantly rotate through the store. The basement gallery hosts exhibitions of various kinds of jewellery – the exhibit on display when we visited highlighted pieces from China and Africa taken from Kwiatkiewicz’s own collection – and the main floor showroom has unique pieces brought in from artists around Poland.

These one-of-a-kind items are going to require you to break into the piggy bank, but you’ll feel good about supporting an up-and-coming Polish artist while your wife or girlfriend will have a pair of amberwood earrings by Marta Włodarska or a sparkly pendant by Tomek Ogrodowski. It took us a long time to decide (the extremely patient clerk will attest to it), but a distinct square ring by Krakow’s Grzesiek Błażko was the winner at 349 zł.

Galeria Yes, (C-2) ul. Paderewskiego 7

If you’ve been keeping track you’ll know we not only nabbed some seriously great gifts for our family, but we came in cleanly under our 1000zł budget at 885.67zł. What to do with the remainder that’s burning a hole in our pocket? If you’re smart you’ll pick up some Polish chocolate bars by legendary Polish chocolatier E. Wedel for anyone you might have forgotten to put on your shopping list and then reward yourself with a well-deserved piece of szarlotka (Polish apple pie).