Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Practical Questions for my readers in Poland (some Krakow specific) ...

I am working on getting all our homeschooling materials together and realized I don't have answers to questions about the best place to buy supplies and books.

If you speak English, where do you buy books for your family? Favorite bookstores? Amazon.uk has been suggested and I hear you get free shipping if you spend over a certain amount (similar to Amazon.com). Is all this true?


Where do you buy high quality (Crayola brand) colored pencils, crayons, markers, etc. School supplies, just the basics?


Where do you buy office products? Same place as school supplies? What about bulletin boards, cork-boards,dry erase markers? Poster boards?


Where do you buy craft extras? Fabric, notions for sewing, knitting supplies, glitter, sequins, etc?


Is there a chain of Thrift shops in Poland like "Goodwill?" Or are they all independently owned and you just have to know where to look? What are they called in Polish?


I know that many of these questions can be answered quickly when I get there but I won't have to do too much searching if I can just show up with a list of store names to check out.

Thank you to all who respond!




16 comments:

  1. add 2. Smyk + Crayola
    http://www.smyk.com/szukaj/produkt?qtype=basicForm&q=Crayola&subQuery=&searchCategory=all&sort=&x=46&y=13

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1.http://www.americanbookstore.pl/x_C_X__P_KONTAKT.html
      http://www.interbook.com.pl/
      2.Smyk
      http://www.smyk.com/szukaj/produkt?qtype=basicForm&q=Crayola&subQuery=&searchCategory=all&sort=&x=46&y=13
      3.Ikea
      http://www.ikea.com/pl/pl/store/krakow/indexPage?cid=pl%3Eps%3Ebranded%3Emiasta_ikea_krak%F3w%3Ego%3Eikea_krak%F3w
      4.Pasmanteria
      http://www.pentelka.pl/pasmanteria_sklepy.html
      http://www.monika-b.pl/
      5.???

      Delete
    2. Ha! I totally forgot that IKEA carries paper and markers an things like that. Thanks!

      Delete
  2. Or partition in one place:

    http://www.galeria-krakowska.pl/en/

    ReplyDelete
  3. I buy my books in English from Empik. You can buy Crayola products at Empik, Smyk and sometimes the grocery story for ex. at Tesco. You can also get Elmer's style glue in the "Elmer's" bottle at Tesco. You can get your school kit together from any of the big grocery stores. Empik has good quality poster board for projects. We also go to a local "paper" store where they have everything you could imagine.

    We bought all the office supply stuff in Selgros. Try any kind of "cash-and-carry" store. This on-line place has a good selection http://www.domkorkowy.eu/index.php

    Glitter and sequins (and pipe cleaners)I bought at a toy warehouse but there are sewing shops all around for sure. We aren't in Krakow though but we have one in the mall even.

    Thrift shops are not government sponsored like Goodwill as far as I can tell. The Red Cross told me (years ago when I wanted to volunteer there) that they sell the clothes they collect for money and then use the money to operate their charitable works. Thrift shops will be called either "Second Hand" in English (convenient) or Lumpex or as the case is on my street "Premium Lumpex" ;) Sometimes the items are priced, sometimes it is a price per piece and sometimes even by weight.

    Hope that helped :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I forgot about Empik! Yes, these are all very helpful, thank you. The mall is one of those places I wouldn't think to look but here the malls are really just clothes and fancy collectibles. I have noticed the malls in Poland carrying a wider range. I will check there as well.

      Delete
  4. Not from Krakow - but great quality crayons are Bambino, Empik is pricey, so check little, local stores and the big supermarkets - Carefour is one of my favourites.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Carrefour! Good idea. And they have carrefour's in the mall. ;)

      Bambino, I will def. check them out. Thanks for the suggestion.

      Delete
  5. For book shops, Massolit have a decent range in Kraków: http://massolit.com/

    Here in Wrocław I buy from Falanster: http://falanster.pl/

    I also use Ebay.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Why do you want to buy Crayola in Poland, when there are so many great quality European or Polish products? :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Crayola is all I know. I am open to suggestions!

      Delete
  7. Hi there,

    I'm from Malaysia, a tropical country where bananas are abundant locally and personally I don't eat both ends of the fruit.

    This is mainly because I find the top end (where you start to peel the fruit) is always brown and bruised, therefore a tad slimy to my liking.

    As for the other end, I just leave it in the peel because it kinda has a weird taste ...like as if you pasted glue on your tongue? Sticky, icky texture ...lol :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi there,

    I'm from Malaysia, a tropical country where bananas are abundant locally and personally I don't eat both ends of the fruit.

    This is mainly because I find the top end (where you start to peel the fruit) is always brown and bruised, therefore a tad slimy to my liking.

    As for the other end, I just leave it in the peel because it kinda has a weird taste ...like as if you pasted glue on your tongue? Sticky, icky texture ...lol :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi there,

    I'm from Malaysia, a tropical country where bananas are abundant locally and personally I don't eat both ends of the fruit.

    This is mainly because I find the top end (where you start to peel the fruit) is always brown and bruised, therefore a tad slimy to my liking.

    As for the other end, I just leave it in the peel because it kinda has a weird taste ...like as if you pasted glue on your tongue? Sticky, icky texture ...lol :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi there,

    I'm from Malaysia, a tropical country where bananas are abundant locally and personally I don't eat both ends of the fruit.

    This is mainly because I find the top end (where you start to peel the fruit) is always brown and bruised, therefore a tad slimy to my liking.

    As for the other end, I just leave it in the peel because it kinda has a weird taste ...like as if you pasted glue on your tongue? Sticky, icky texture ...lol :)

    ReplyDelete