shopping malls in budapest
The first mall that opened in Budapest was the colossal Duna Plaza in Northern Pest, next to the Gyöngyösi utca Metro stop in the mid 1990-s. People stood in line just to get a glimpse at a real mall, very similarly to when the first McDonalds had opened in 1990.
Since then, at least one of these monstrosities were opened per year, and the city’s commerce hasn’t taken the changes very well. Smaller merchants, whose shops were located withing a few kilometres’ radius of the new palaces of consumption, have predictably went bankrupt or have seen their shoppers change their ways.
Nevertheless, Budapesters did manage to get used to, and even like malls, due to their central location and the convenience of everything in the same place. Everyone has their „personal” favourite mall, and they are popular meeting places.
