Belarusians on shopping spree in Poland ahead of New Year's Eve

Large numbers of Belarusians go on shopping to Poland ahead of New Year celebrations.

Traders in Polish Bialystok are happy as their profits doubled ahead of Christmas and New Year's Eve. It is to a great extent due to shoppers from Belarus who take advantage of discounts in Polish stores after Catholic Christmas, Gazeta Wyborcza writes.

Belarusians spent at least a billion Polish zloty in Poland last year.

The number of Belarusian shoppers increased in early December. Parking lots near shopping malls are filled with cars and minibuses from Belarus. It seems logical in the season of Christmas discounts on clothes, footwear and decorations. Belarusians buy even durable goods.

“We've bought a television and two phones. We've come to buy clothes, because we don't have such discounts at home, and food. It's much cheaper than in Belarus. We are going to buy washing powder and go to Leroy Merlin. We'll stay in Bialystok for a night, because we have big plans. We want to buy many things for our family and friends,” Aliaksandr of Hrodna says.

Polish traders take advantage of the situation – advertising leaflets are available already on the border, ads regularly appear in Belarusian press and on websites. A special website focusing on shopping in Bialystok was launched this year. It publishes information in Polish and Russian. Outlet Bialystok, which opened two weeks ago, wants to launch a free bus from Hrodna.

Official statistical data for 2014 will be made public only in January, but we can say even now that sales in the Tax Free system are growing and the first six months of the year showed much better results than previous years. According to the Central Statistical Office of Poland, Belarusians spent more than 734 million zloty in the second quarter of the year against 620 million in the same period in 2013.