April 21, 2023 - A new shopping centre, "Galerija Bakar", was opened on Wednesday in the Bakar Industrial Zone on Kukuljanovo, on an area of more than 30,000 square meters, in which about 35 million euros were invested, and 350 employees will find work there.

As stated in the announcement of Galerija Bakar, the new shopping centre is designed as a 'retail park', i.e. a series of shopping units located in the same complex, each with a separate external entrance, writes Poslovni.

The retail area of the centre exceeds 30,000 square meters, making it the largest shopping centre in Bakar and its surroundings. The press release states that three hundred fifty new jobs will be created, and additional funds will be added to the local budget for the development of infrastructure and a better quality of life for citizens.

"Currently, 20 halls are being built in the Bakar Industrial Zone, a tender is underway for the design of a large sports centre with three swimming pools and a hall, as well as business premises, and we are getting closer to realising the construction of a kindergarten. This year, more than 500 people will be employed in the Bakar Industrial Zone, of which more than 350 will be employed in Galerija Bakar," said Tomislav Klarić, the mayor of Bakar.

In the first phase of construction of the Galerija Bakar specialised shopping centre, 15 brands will open their doors, and customers will have 550 parking spaces at their disposal. The total investment for the first phase is about 35 million euros, stated Neven Marić in front of the investor AM PS Lambda Nekretnine d.o.o.

"On the southern part of the plot, in about a year, five more stores, a stand-alone McDonald's, and a warehouse will open their doors, and the investment for the second phase amounts to more than 10 million euros. All phases of project development, from financing, land purchase, design and space rental, construction and reconstruction, would not have been possible without our partners City of Bakar, Industrial Zone Bakar, competent services of the City of Bakar and the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, as well as utility companies, BKS Bank, companies Brodokomerc Nova, companies Spiller Farmer, Arhinet d.o.o., Elterm d.o.o. and our tenants", pointed out Marić.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

November 20, 2022 - End of an era in Croatia. No more free tiny little plastic bags. According to the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, shops will be required to display the prices of the plastic bags used for fruit and vegetables.

As Poslovni writes, with the new ordinance on packaging, which should enter into force next year, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development will introduce a return fee for packaging with a volume of less than 0.20 liters for tetrapak and which is not made of PET. At the same time, retailers will have to start charging for very light plastic bags.

The Ordinance envisages the expansion of the existing refund system with less than 0.20 liters of packaging with multi-layer (composite) packaging with a predominantly paper-cardboard component, for example, tetrapak. With plastic packaging that is not made of PET, for example, HDPE (polyethylene of high density, rigid plastic), the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development told Hina.

All products defined as "beverage" to enter the refund system

Regarding products in HDPE plastic packaging, the Ministry said that all products that fall under the definition of "beverage" are included in the refund system.

This concerns alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, table, natural mineral water, and spring water, fruit syrups, fruit juices and nectars, milk and liquid dairy products, and other liquid products based on fruit, as well as any other substance that is packaged together with the liquid base and forms a complete unit of primary packaging.

This means that oils, detergents, and other products that are not "beverages" do not enter the refund system.

Glass bottles for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks with a volume of 0.1 liters are included in the refund system, as well as plastic packaging with a volume of three litres or less.

The Regulation on waste management compensation and return compensation will prescribe the method of calculation and the compensation amounts. A new look for the packaging label in the return fee system is also proposed.

Very light plastic bags must be charged to consumers

The ordinance also proposes that all very lightweight plastic bags, thinner than 15 microns, used for fruit and vegetables and other bulk food, and are not currently charged in the future must be charged to consumers and that they may not be displayed and sold at cash registers.

Also, in the places where the consumer packages the goods, their price, which the seller will determine, must be displayed, according to the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.

The aim of introducing a fee for lightweight plastic bags is to separate their uncontrolled free distribution and excessive collection, which often leads to the disposal of such bags in the environment.

In addition, the goal is to improve the use of thicker plastic bags, those with a wall thickness of 50 microns or more, because they end up being discarded much less often due to their greater mass and convenience for multiple uses. The ministry wants to encourage the use of bags made of alternative materials.

The Ministry says that the new rulebook is being adopted due to Croatia's obligations to transpose the provisions of the EU directives on packaging and packaging waste into the national legislation and on reducing the impact of plastic products on the environment.

The existing waste packaging management system should be harmonized with the Waste Management Act from July 2021.

Consultation on the rulebook until December 10

The rulebook was published on the Central Portal for public consultation, and the consultation is open until December 10. After that, the Ministry announced they would proceed with its final drafting.

The start of the application will be determined in the final version of the rulebook so that a period for adjustment will be set, and the Ministry will inform the public about the current application dates.

The Ordinance proposes measures to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic products, as well as measures related to the extended responsibility of producers of single-use plastic products and fishing gear containing plastic.

Measures are also proposed to raise awareness about the harmfulness of discarding plastic products and the availability of reusable alternatives.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

February 10th, 2022 - Even though most supermarket chains in Croatia advertise their sales and offers online, the good old paper catalogue isn't going anywhere. Instead, it seems to be an increasingly profitable means of advertising, luring customers with promises of discounts as inflation soars

If you’ve stayed in Croatia long enough that you’d have to go grocery shopping regularly, you will have noticed the stacks of catalogues at the entrance to any supermarket of your choice.

Staying or living in a residential building? The catalogues again, this time delivered straight into your mailbox, or left on top of the mailbox, or scattered on the floor.

Heaps and heaps of catalogues, multiplying at such speed that we collectively caved at one point and installed shelves or boxes for promotional materials in hallways around the country. So our mailboxes could finally fit some actual mail.

This is not a recent phenomenon, nor is it exclusive to Croatia. For years now, retail chains of all sorts have been competing for customers through the means of catalogues advertising all their current sales and offers. All accompanied by various exclamations and catchphrases, varying from meaningless to deceptive or even slightly aggressive.

Mega price! (Paradoxical, given the intended meaning.) 40% off everything! (*everything listed on these two pages.) You will not miss this! And so on, delivered weekly to your mailbox. Grocery retail makes up the bulk of it, followed by cosmetics, household items, home decor and furniture.

Although most have digital counterparts these days, the good old paper catalogue still seems to be a reliable and profitable enough means of advertising for us to be inundated by dozens of them each week. And they're not leaflets; they're proper magazines at this point. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to chuck them in the paper bin and save yourself from spiralling into the advertising abyss. Once you leaf through a few and start noticing patterns, that’s it. You’re done. They got your attention, and they’re not letting go.

We all love a good deal, and it’s nice to score a discount on a few items once in a while. But as food (and all other) prices in Croatia keep hiking up relentlessly, plenty of people don’t have a choice but to shop around in desperate search of those mega prices and 30% offs.

You don’t even have to do this out of financial need, necessarily. You have to do it not to get scammed by retail chains, artificially inflating prices one week and advertising mouthwatering discounts the next.

Again, nothing new under the sun, but this tried and tested sales tactic has been getting out of hand in recent times, so much so that the fed-up, underpaid supermarket cashiers will often softly rebel and advise you against making a purchase if they know something’s going on sale tomorrow. 

We’re at a point where it’s getting ridiculous. With the constant battle of grocery retail chains fought on catalogue pages, grocery shopping in Croatia is slowly evolving from a simple chore into actual labour. You’ve got to put in the time, study your catalogues religiously and plan for the week ahead - those enticing offers only last so long!

Those patterns I mentioned earlier? Give it a few weeks and you’ll notice there’s a handful of specific products that are seemingly always on sale in one retail chain or another, the discounted price is always the same across the board, and you’re a sucker for buying the thing when it’s not on sale. To name a few without actually naming them: a certain cocoa & hazelnut spread, a certain brand of chocolate-covered wafers, several brands of toilet paper.

In a similar vein, there are categories of products that all retail chains put on sale simultaneously. One brand of milk each, or butter, or coffee, or laundry detergent. God forbid you simply walk into a store and buy laundry detergent - you’ll sweat profusely, knowing it might be selling at 40% off somewhere else, and you’re not a sucker!

I’m joking, to a certain degree. The topic has become a bit of an unhealthy fixation of mine, and I find some aspects of it fascinating. Circling back to the previous paragraph, how do retail chains coordinate their efforts and agree on what’s going on sale the following month? Is it a conference call? A strategy planned quarterly? Q2 is all about dairy, lads! I wish I knew someone working in the mid- or upper echelons of any big grocery chain that operates in Croatia. I’ve so many questions.

Not to mention the mind boggling logistics of the catalogue industry. I can’t begin to imagine the number of executives, managers, photographers, designers, copywriters, editors, operatives and distributors required to constantly churn out those bad boys and keep them in circulation. Imagine the (probably unholy) cost of it all and the amount of paper wasted, only for 100% of it to end up in the trash eventually.

In the meantime, though, you accomplish your main objective of getting customers through the door, only for them to discover their local outlet only had 3 of those discounted shoe cabinets in stock and they sold out in 5 minutes that morning. They absolutely lose it.

Or the offensive small print pointing out that the advertised discounts don’t apply in, say, Zadar and Virovitica. Outrage ensues. (I love reading comments trashing retail chains on social media. I said it was an unhealthy fixation.)

There are plenty of people who depend on this insidious mechanism of marketing and sales to help them stretch their budget. Others can afford not to care about discounts, but will keep track of them anyway so they wouldn’t get played by the retail overlords. And finally, some don’t care at all and do their shopping unburdened by advertised sales; they're probably of most sound mind, but they overpay for their groceries. Whatever the case, there’s no winning. It feels as if we’re all on a twisted merry-go-round that spins and spins and no one’s getting off. Except for 30% off. While stocks last!

February 5, 2021 – Visitors to a mall in Dalmatia were yesterday surprised to see their shopping trip shared by a family of Zadar sheep, who were filmed strolling beneath the logos of famous brands. The video became a big hit on social media

The people who inhabit Croatia's coastal region of Dalmatia like to take pride in the good things they have. And well they might. Their region is beyond-beautiful – a long stretch of idyllic coastline and islands, sat before pristine seas, with a spectacular mountain backdrop behind which a wealth of culture, tradition, nature and authentic Croatian cuisine lie.

Part of that cuisine is lamb. Dalmatia lamb is highly prized – indeed, indeed the lamb from Dalmatian island Pag, and that of the Lika region is protected at an EU-level tied to its place of origin. But, those are not the only places in Croatia that have fantastic lamb. Within many of Dalmatia's foothills, you'll find sheep and shepherds. Zadar sheep are just some of those who graze on grasslands around Dalmatia's cities, towns and villages. Well, usually they do.

Over recent days, one family of Zadar sheep quit the quieter areas on the edge of the city suburbs and descended on the town. They were caught on video taking a stroll around the car park of a popular mall on the edge of the city. Filmed in front of the familiar logos of Interspar and McDonalds, you can imagine they have just finished a round of shopping and are now heading back home.

Perhaps they imagined the mall to be a Woolmart outlet? We're not the only ones to wonder. The Zadar sheep family was incredibly popular yesterday on the Facebook site Dnevna doza prosječnog Dalmatinca. Views of the Zadar sheep gone shopping are approaching 10, 000 views. Over 2000 left comments, such as “They also go to Zara!” and "here's a lot of symbolism here."

It would seem that images of the shopping Zadar sheep stuck in people's minds throughout the day. In a later Facebook post on Dnevna doza prosječnog Dalmatinca, a supermarket shopping trolley was pictured abandoned by the traffic lights of a road junction elsewhere in Dalmatia. Some wondered in the comments section whether it could be that of the Zadar sheep, who had forgotten to return it to the mall after their shopping spree.

Dnevna doza prosječnog Dalmatinca Facebook screenshot

April 10, 2020 - Most shops and shopping malls will be closed on Easter and Easter Monday due to the coronavirus pandemic and because of their usual holiday hours. A look at where you can shop around Croatia this weekend.

Aware that there will be an increased need to go to the store to prepare for Easter Sunday, the opening hours of shops have been extended, from 7am to 8pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, instead of 7am to 5pm, while the coronavirus pandemic lasts. 

Minister Davor. Bozinovic told a news conference that the shops would be open from 7am to 8pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, before Easter, so that citizens could buy whatever they needed and avoid crowds.

During the holidays, on Easter (April 12) and Easter Monday (April 13), most retail chains in Croatia will work shortened hours or be closed.

Konzum stores will also be closed on Easter Sunday and Monday. The same is true for Lidl, who has announced that all their stores in Croatia will be closed on Easter and Easter Monday. Grocery stores will also be closed for Easter and Easter Monday.

Retail chain Pevex has also decided on opening hours, announcing that they will not be working on Easter and Easter Monday.

Spar shops will be open on Easter Monday, but until 5pm.

Kaufland's stores will be closed for Easter and will work shortened hours on Easter Monday, from 8am to 5pm.

The same is true of Plodine stores, whose outlets will only work on Easter Monday, but until 5pm.

Tommy stores will not work on Easter or Easter Monday, just like KTC.

Arena Center will not work on Easter, and on Easter Monday, shops exempted from the restriction on work will be open. Mueller does not work on Easter and on Easter Monday is open from 8am to 2pm.

The shops at Avenue Mall that are open are listed on this link.

The City Center One East and City Center One West shopping centers in Zagreb and City Center One in Split will be closed on Easter, and on Easter Monday, the centers will be open from 8am to 2pm.

Veronika and dm will be closed and Müller will be open from 8am to 2pm.

The Westgate Shopping Center will also not be open on Easter or Easter Monday.

Supernova Center Zagreb - Buzin, will not work for Easter or Easter Monday, except for Insterspar, which will be open from 8am to 5pm on Monday.

GardenMall will also be open on Monday from 8am to 5pm. Supernova Karlovac will operate as well as GardenMall, while Supernova in Zadar, Supernova Colosseum in Slavonski Brod, Supernova Šibenik, Supernova Sisak West & East will be closed on Easter and Easter Monday (except Spar and Mueller).

Grocery stores in Supernova Varaždin shopping malls will be open on Easter Monday from 8am to 5pm, and Supernova Koprivnica from 8am to 5pm.

Mall of Split will also not be working on Easter, while on Easter Monday, it will be open part-time from 8/9am to 3/5pm (you can see the list of shops here).

Lumini in Varaždin will be closed on Easter and Easter Monday.

Source: 24 Sata

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

As Sergej Novosel Vuckovic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 10th of September, 2019, the newly opened Žabac food store offers an assortment of products in three categories - ''rok'' (shelf life) as stock which is soon to reach its expiration date, ''štok'' (stock) which includes groceries which come in large quantities that cannot be sold in standard stores, and ''lom'', which are items that are somewhat ''broken'' or cracked, but are otherwise perfectly fine to be consumed by humans.

The already very well known Zagreb Food Outlet, Žabac, sells food and household supplies at affordable prices, reduced by up to 90 percent, depending on its durability, condition and quantity, has opened a new store today.

The 170-square-metre building on Nemčićeva street near Nama on Kvaternik's square (Kvaternikov trg) is the third Žabac store in the City of Zagreb. Its opening at its new location saw the closure of the very first Žabac store, which operated at the beginning of Tkalčićeva street in the very heart of Zagreb for many years, because the space had become too small.

Ten new people will work in the new Žabac store, including a young man with special needs, which makes Žabac a company with a strong social responsibility in terms of doing business, taking into account the inclusiveness of citizens who, through no fault of their own, often find getting a job more difficult than usual.

Žabac's offer in its new store, which makes up three different categories of products and has been described above, changes day by day, as do the prices, which vary from 50 to very welcome 90 percent discounts.

Žabac received an award from the London-based global research firm Euromonitor International for its concept as a food outlet last year, as an example of a project being implemented in the world trade sector.

In the Grocery (Commerce) category, Euromonitor ranked Žabac right behind the global giant - the wildly popular Alibaba online store.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle and business pages for much more. If it's just Zagreb you're interested in, give Total Zagreb a follow or check out Zagreb in a Page for all you need to know about the Croatian capital.

August the 20th, 2019 - ''53 kuna. Imate sitno? That's 53 kuna / Do you have any smaller bills?'' the cashier lady asked looking timidly at the guy in front of me who was digging through his pockets with his phone surgically attached to his ear.

He didn't even look at her, just pulled out a few bills from his pocket, talking on the phone, threw it on the cash register and left the store. I tried to smile at the cashier lady, but one look behind my back pursueded me that those angry faces wouldn't wait long while I made small talk with her, trying to make her feel like a human being.

They all looked stressed and in a hurry. So I put the things into my shopping bag as quickly as I could, trying to find my credit card in my wallet, feeling them breathing down my neck. And at that moment I realised – that shopping is a huge source of stress for me. First, of all, If you're going to read this article, I think it's only fair that you know one fact -  I really don't like shopping.

It wasn't always like that, though.

When I was a little girl growing up in Karlovac, shopping was a bit more fun. Going shopping in Karlovac in those days was a synonymous with going to TEKSTILKA. TEKSTILKA was a huge shopping centre located in a grey building with orange TEKSTILKA letters plastered on the roof, which at night you could read as T KS T LKA because some of the lightbulbs had apparently burned out.

TEKSTILKA was based on a one man band philosophy – we have all you need at one location. And it really did have everything. A papirnica (stationary shop), drapery products, kitchen supplies - ground floor to the left. Buttons, wool and kniting supplies – ground floor to the right, next to the candy store.

Shoes, clothing and carpets - second floor. Third floor was reserved for the furniture – on your right, and LPs, tape recorders and cassettes – on your left.

Tekstilka was a magical place which covered all of your purchuasing needs.

''Mum, I need new notebooks for school,'' I mentioned to my mum politely.

''Idemo sutra u TEKSTILKU pa ćemo kupiti. Moram ići kupiti neke gumbe! / We'll go to TEKSTILKA tomorrow and we will buy them. I need to go and get some new buttons anyway!'' she'd reply.

Having matching buttons was a really big deal to my mother. She was always in search of the perfect buttons. Hours of my childhood were spent in the TEKSTILKA buttons department watching my mum choose between the right shade of deep red buttons for the new sweater she was knitting.

Nobody would rush you in the buttons department. After hours of strolling through TEKSTILKA, mum would pull out her chequebook and slowly write a cheque at the main cashier register. The cashier lady would then take all of her receipts and put a purple stamp on them.

Well, actually, to tell you the truth, I don't dislike everything about shopping...

I do like to buy old books and stroll around Britanac, or perhaps better to say Britanski trg (British square), a beautiful picturesque Zagreb sqaure where on Saturday morning, old ladies will sell you used tea cups with matching teapots and candlesticks from the Habsburg monarchy, dusty paintings and oxidated old silver photo frames.

Oh, and I also like to buy scented candles! But, there are only so many scented candles and photo frames in the world that you can buy. At some point you just have to go out – and buy some groceries. Or even worse... Shoes.

As much as I dislike shopping, my nine year old son adores it.

''Što si kupila?/ What did you buy?'' he asks instead of ''Bok, mama, kakav je bio tvoj dan? Jesi umorna? / Hi, Mum! What was your day like? Are you tired?'' and he starts sniffing around my shopping bags in my hands with a hunting glow in his eyes – spotting me on the doorway getting home from work.

''Nothing, just bread,'' I answer tiredly.

''Bread? Bread?! he screams at me.

''You just buy stuff for yourself, nothing for me!'' he proclaims as he walks away angrly and slams the door behind him. And I put my brand new halfwhite bread, collection spring/summer, limited edition, on the table.

Going to the store with him, you feel as if you are re going hunting for foxes in the forest nearby.

''So, listen, we will just spend 400 kuna, not a penny more! We're going in and out,'' I state as I give my kids a lecture while standing in the parking space infront of the supermarket.

''Nema žicanja! / No pestering! – repeat after me! Nema žicanja! / No pestering!'' I command.

''Nema žicanja, mama!'' the three of my kids repeat obediently in the back seat of the car. I'm not entirely convinced, though. One look at the back mirror and I spot that familiar little hunting sparkle in my son's eye.

''Madam, do you need more bags? / Gospođo, trebate li još vrećica?'' a nice cashier lady yells across the cash register to me.

I didn't quite hear her because she was yelling from the other side of a huge hill made of organic bananas, toilet paper, notebooks, pencil sharpners (didn't I buy one for you last week?), pencil cases, wallnuts, chocolate flavoured cornflakes, cocoa cookies and milk. I'm pretty sure I saw a chandelier and one or two stuffed animals somewhere in that same pile.

''To bi bilo 1,500 kuna, Gospođo. Gotovina ili kartica? / That would be 1,500 kuna, Madam. Cash or credit card?'' she asks kindly.

I feel my blood pressure dropping by the second, I feel dizzy, my heart is rapidly pumping, I hear a buzzing in my ears… and just before I faint under the counter, I squeeze the words through my lips:

''Može na rate? / Can I pay in installments?''

And then I look at my son. He's overcome with happiness. That sparkle turned into a glow while his eyes danced over the treasure on the cash register.

''Hvala, mama! Volim te! / Thank you, Mum! I love you!'' he yells while packing his ''prey'' into the shopping bags.

The real challenge, however – is the summer vacation with children somewhere on the Croatian coast. Let's say that you're going with your three lovely, modest and undemanding children on your well deserved summer holiday, feeling happy for looking at the sunset, lounging around on the beach while your children collect pebbles and throw them into the sea. You're very pleased with yourself, because this year you've outsmarted the ice-cream sellers.

You booked a nice hotel, which covers all of your meals, and more importantly – ice creams and sodas, guided with the slogan: ''There is plenty of ice-cream in the hotel! You don't need soda! Drink water! It's healthier for
you!''

And then one nice day you step out onto some beautiful Croatian beach wearing your huge sunglasses and a bathing suit, ready to dive into the Adriatic sea. But, where is the Adriatic sea? Oh there it is! That little blue thing in the background behind the stalls packed with plastic toys and glittering useless stuff. Every Croatian beach is packed with those. I imagine locals just dragging that same dusty stuff from last summer from their garages every May, waiting for new naive and totally helpless parents to arrive.

''Ajde, djeco, idemo na plažu! / Come on kids, let's go to the beach!'' I yell naively.

''Mum, Mum, can I buy this? I really need that!''

''Look, Mum, these are free!'' my daughter proclaims.

''Lucija, only air here is free of charge!'' I say impatiently, carefully looking around me for the sign: A place in the shade – 15 kuna.

''Can we buy this swimming pool? I want a swimming pool,'' asks my son as he points me towards the huge box with photos of suspiciously happy looking people grinning in a plastic garden pool.

''We're not buying a swimming pool! We are two metres away from the most beautiful sea in the world. We came here to enjoy the sunsets and the sea! So enjoy it!'' I finally flip out at them.

''Well, I am enjoying it'' my sons notifies me and wanders off to the next stand.

Next summer, I'm thinking just of renting some wasteland in the middle of nowhere and putting a big plastic swimming pool there, and some stalls with plastic stuff around them, and call it a summer vacation.

There is only one thing more stressful for me than summer shopping with my children. Shopping for jeans – one of my worse shopping nightmares. I timidly enter the modern store in one of Zagreb's shopping malls. I try to find the sales lady, but all I see is a seventeen-year-old with too much red lipstick and a pony tale laughing her head of on the phone, and making chewing gum balloons. And then it hits me: That IS the sales lady.

I yell across the store trying to speak over Justin Bieber singing from the loudspeakers.

''Excuse me, I would like to buy some jeans''

The girl rolls her eyes at me, reluctantly, leaves her phone and pulls out a pair of extra small tight jeans, looking straight through me.

''Do you have something for the other leg?'' I think to myself, while I'm breaking out in a cold sweat, but I force myself just to ask her politely: ''Do you have something in size L?''

''It's all universal,'' she replies and makes another chewing gum balloon nervously. Her boyfriend is waiting on the phone, come on already!

Did I say that buying jeans is my worst shoping nightmare? Please, forgive me. I forgot about the shoes.

If I ever get really rich (it's just about to happen, any day now), I will open a shoe store. But not just any kind of store. It will be a little shoe store with a flashing sign in front spelling: 41. And, yes, you guessed it; it will sell size 41 only (size 9 USA, 8 UK). Ah, 41, the mysterious shoe size and an everlasting secret of Croatian shoe stores.

You see, there is a pretty big amount of very tall women in Croatia. Myself included. And a large number of them wear the shoe size 41. Which brings me to my next point, an obvious Croatian shoe paradox. I enter a regular shoe store in Zagreb centre, a city with around one milion residents, and judging by the amount of high heels clattering on Zagreb's streets, at least half of those residents are women.

And I spot them! The best looking shoes I've ever seen. The ones I've dreamed of! I lift them upside down and check the price. Also nice!

''Izvolite'' says a nice shoe store lady as she approaches me.

And then I take a deep breath, trying to use all the mindfulness philosophy I know and enjoy that moment, holding the perfect shoe with a perfect price in my hand and with heart in my mouth, I ask:

''Imate možda 41? / Do you maybe have these in size 41?'' I ask, holding my breath and squinting helplessly with one eye, in fear of the shoe truth.

''Jooooj, nemamo, prodali smo sve! / Ahhh, I'm sorry, we don't, we sold them all!'' the sales lady replies to me.

''Are you sure? Can you check?'' I put on my sad face.

''I'm afraid not,'' she says as she shrugs her shoulders.

Sometimes they don't tell you at once that size 41 is sold out, feeling sorry for you, standing there with that shoe, like a sad puppy. Some of them go to the warehouse or in the back and pretend for five minutes they are searching for it.

Before, I was naive thinking that they were actually searching. Now I'm positive that they stand there there between all these pretty little size 38 shoes counting to 100, before they come out with the disappointing answer:
''Ne, nažalost, ništa / Nope, I'm sorry, nothing! We always order only 6 pairs of size 41 and they sell out the first day they arrive!''

Six pairs? Six pairs?!

If someone could please explain to me how the shoe store owners got to the fact that only six women in all of Zagreb would ask for size 41, I would be very grateful to them! In every store I asked at, they give me the same answer: We order only six pairs of size 41!

How difficult is to call the factory in China and ask for another six pairs, I wonder...

With years of shoe shopping gone by, I gave up hope on ever finding nice shoes in size 41. Now I just enter the store and yell from the door: ''Što imate da je 41? / What do you have that's in size 41?'' and follow the nice lady to the working boots department.

A few days ago I was sitting with my friend at the shopping mall, drinking coffee after shoe shopping. I spotted a little sign at one store saying: ''We are here for you!'' Well, nobody is here for you in the store, not even seventeen-year-old sales girls with extra lipstick making balloons with chewing gum.

But maybe, maybe there are some people that really are here for you at the stores... Remember my magical childhood shopping store TEKSTILKA, from the beginning of the story?

Well, there still exists a little sweet place like that in Zagreb, called N…, oops, I must not advertise.

A huge building with old-fashioned dark blue lettering on the roof with – everything you need.

A stationary shop and bags on the first floor, right to the candy store, clothing and kitchen supplies on the second floor, furniture, carpets and washing machines on the top floor. They don't accept chequebooks there anymore, but nobody's rushing you, rolling their eyes at you because you interrupted a phonecall from soneone's boyfriend and you don't need to try to compete with Justin Bieber when asking for things in your size.

And, most importantly, no matter how tired the sales lady is, you will always get a warm smile and a kind ''Izvolite? / How can I help you?'' Sometimes, that is all we need for a nice day.

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