In 1956, America’s, and the world’s first-ever shopping center, in a classical sense, opened. Over 12 thousand boutiques will close in plazas by the end of 2019, predicts a wealthy American real estate company. The world has changed in a massive way in the past sixty years.
These commercial complexes spreading like wild-fire in the 60s were a sign of the birth and the boom of the middle-class. Then the 2008 world crisis happened, which finished any booms.
Consumer habits didn’t only change due to the lack of money though. Online stores and web stores slowly began to overtake the pleasure that the plazas provided us, by allowing us to buy everything at one place and also make us feel full. You can’t imagine a more comfortable shopping, than from home, while sitting on the sofa.
In Hungary, the consumer habits are changing at a different pace, which isn’t surprising, considering that it was only a bit over 20 years ago that the first American style shopping center opened.
After the change of regime, nothing could stop this withering West lifestyle from breaking into the country. The pioneer of this was the different American fast-food restaurants, and not much after them, in 1996, the first shopping center appeared as well.
One followed another, that was even larger, offering an even wider variety of products and range of services.
Besides their basic concept – that we can shop for clothes, technical items, food, go to the cinema with the family, have lunch or participate in different programs – they were all the same, they tried to stand out with something unique from the competition: hotel and/or event hall in the building, ice-skating rink, tropical aquarium, luxury category stores, or completely free parking.
Despite its quick popularity, due to the declining visitors during the 2008 crisis showed its effect, and since 2011 you can’t even build a commercial building larger than 400 square meters without ministerial and professional permission.
Thanks to the reviving consumer capacity after the crisis in Hungary, not only this form of trade not declining, but the development of new shopping centers is on the menu again.
Until then, the already established ones catered to the growing need of consumers, and they try to avoid the fate of their great predecessors not only through shops but also in a wider range of services.
Outlets
However, there is a calling sound in Hungary, in which comparison the fleet of sirens at best have the charm of the Veresegyház women’s choir: and this is an outlet. Even the consumer snob, who normally hates plazas shakes at the sound of this word.
The consumer that lives in all of us, finds a reason to spend money, if with nothing else than with this, and although it’s at full price, there is no need for it, but the shoes, overalls, fridge, flat-screen TV with damaged packaging, from last year destroyed by discounts, but for THIS price it’s a deal.
Business policy is bulletproof, even when only a portion of the products of the outlet is super discounted. Many cheaper shops in different categories await both careful and impulsive customers in many locations in Budapest, where they really can catch a good one-off deal.
Most of these stores/complexes offer clothes, but in the capital, we can find furniture – and cosmetic outlets as well, not even mentioning the baby products or the outlets selling chocolate.
If our time allows it, it’s definitely worth to try our luck, and it feels much better spoiling yourself, when you can get more from the same amount, and don’t lie to yourself, you won’t bring back home the saved amount. We are on holiday after all.
List of shopping centers in Budapest by district
These are the best shopping centers in Budapest currently :
(Highlighted with green color!)
Árkád 
Aréna pláza 
Premier outlet 
Corvin pláza 
Mammut 
Allee 
Westend
District II.
Mammut
1024 Budapest, Lövőház utca 2-6
Rózsadomb Center
1025 Budapest, Törökvész út 87-91.
Budagyöngye
1026 Budapest, Szilágyi Erzsébet fasor 121
Rózsakert Bevásárlóközpont
1026 Budapest Gábor Áron u. 74.
District VI.
Westend
1062 Budapest, Váci út 1-3
District VIII.
Corvin Pláza
1083 Budapest, Futó utca 37-45.
ARENA Pláza
1087 Budapest, Kerepesi út 9.
District IX.
Lurdy ház
1097 Budapest, Könyves Kálmán körút 12-14
District X.
Árkád Budapest
1106 Budapest, Örs vezér tere 25/A
District XI.
Savoya Park
1117 Budapest, Hunyadi János út 19 .
Allee
1117 Budapest, Október Huszonharmadika utca 8-10.
District XII.
MOM Park
1123 Budapest, Alkotás utca 53
District XIII.
Duna Pláza
1138 Budapest Váci út 178.
District XV.
ASIA Center
1152 Budapest, Szentmihályi út 167
District XIX.
KÖKI Terminal
1191 Budapest, Vak Bottyán u. 75.
20 km away from Budapest
Premier Outlet
2051 Biatorbágy, Budaörsi út 4. ( Not in Budapest! )