How do the Społem type stores survive here? When I lived in my previous apartment, I would go to the Społem at Plac Bankowy and buy pickles, as they had the Basia brand which I think is the best Polski pickle brand. I would go to this store to buy only this. There was usually no one else in there shopping, the raw vegetables didn't look fresh, and the raw meat looks completely dry like it has been sitting there for days.

Near my current place is Hala Kopińska. I went to that store 6 months ago to check it out and didn't buy anything. I also went this past weekend just to look around at what products they had. Everything is outrageously overpriced! The only positive I see in that store is the selection as they have every flavor of everything, while stores like Biedronka carry 1 or 2 flavors of popular products. The only reason I could see myself buying anything from that store is to get a specific flavor or something I like or to buy something I can't find anywhere else (like a specific beer, soda brand or flavor, etc), but never to do casual shopping.

I have absolutely no idea how these stores survive. Any ideas? I'm curious :)