Budapest!

Hi everyone,  I thought I would share with you my trip to Budapest. On the 13th of November, me and my course (BA (Hons) Retail Management) went on an international field trip to visit Budapest, as a retail destination.

Due to being a small group of about 20 students, our course was able to go abroad to understand Budapest as a retail location and in general bond as a group! We stayed at Atlas City Hotel, a 30-second walk away from II. Janos Pal papa ter and the metro station.

On the first day we had a guided tour around Interspar located in Arkad shopping centre; one of the largest shopping centres in Budapest.

A bit different to McDonalds!

The guided tour ended with some information about Interspar as a company and the common grocery retail formats found in Hungary. The store manager spoke in Hungarian, but luckily we had a translator! It was really interesting and linked in well with some of the retail units I was learning about at the time.

After that we had some time to ourselves to do what Retail students do best; SHOP! One thing which was prominent in the Hungarian clothing market was the need for Inditex stores such as Zara, Pull and Bear, Bershka and Stradivarius. These brands were everywhere you looked, on high streets and multiple different shopping complexes.

The dining area of the shopping centre was completely different to English shopping centres in the fact that fresh pastries and fruit was being sold as an alternative to huge McDonald’s and KFC branches. One of the best parts about Budapest was the cheap and cheerful food options, which saved us students a lot of money!

The river – beautiful but cold!

Afterwards, we went to look at the river that runs between ‘Buda’ and ‘Pest’. It was a beautiful day although freezing cold! Next we went on to get a feel for a local food market, which was a hub for tourists and locals who lived in the area. It also supplied tourist gifts and trinkets (although very overpriced).

The next day we all came together and went to the ‘Arena Plaza’ shopping mall. Compared to Arkad it was double the size with a much sleeker interior. After meeting our guide we were lead towards a cinema within the shopping mall to receive a talk by the operations manager at Arena Plaza.

It was like entering a parallel universe, the most modern cinema I’ve ever seen! The talk was very interesting and we were shown graphs of how retailing has changed over the past couple of decades in Hungary. After that it was more shopping time and a chance for us to fill out our set tasks.

On our final day we went for a walk in one of the nearby parks as we had to leave for the airport at midday.

The retail gang

All in all, it was a great trip and I loved getting to spend it with my amazing course mates! I would recommend Budapest as a weekend break as it is a beautiful place with more retail opportunities than you may initially think.

Written by Chloe, Retail Management student

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