Hi,

This week, no Marek Zulawski stuff. Except for that sentence you just read.

No, this week we need to talk about something much more important in everybody's life.

The Polish shop copyright saga

Ah, the local Polish shop.

There they are, on your high street, reliably serving you rye bread, ready-to-boil pierogi, and a baffling range of grains in boxes.

Since Poland joined the EU, these shops are everywhere in the UK. And they haven't gone away since Brexit.

The big supermarket chains all took note and have had Polish food sections themselves for some time. Buying a pot of serek wiejski in Sainsbury's is part of a standard shopping experience.

But when big names are selling these specialist products, how does the little guy compete?

Their solution seems to involve some lateral thinking...

Just pretend you're a big supermarket

One of Poland's most common supermarkets is Biedronka. "Biedronka" means "ladybird", hence the smiley bug in its logo.

To the average Pole, that bug's face represents cheap prices and all your basics covered.

Maybe that's why you can find that same face in Acton in West London:

When I first saw this Acton shop, I thought it an amusing one-off. But no, this is not the work of some single-minded chancer.

This is a trend...

Here's one in Lincoln. Here are two in Bradford next to each other.

This one in Cheltenham has even doubled the number of ladybirds and become the plural "Biedronki".

A search of Companies House reveals there have been 37 registrations of the company name Biedronka in the UK. Some are defunct, but a new one pops up every so often.

I don't think any are legitimately affiliated with the actual Biedronka. Unless it's common for billion-euro supermarket chains to register UK headquarters in small flats in Portsmouth.

The situation becomes even more complicated when we look for Poland's most famous animal-based shop network.

The frog's domination

Żabka ("little frog") is Poland's equivalent of Spar, maybe even Tesco Express. But it's bigger than both combined - the 7000th Żabka opened in 2021.

They have since lost their iconic frog logo and gone for something more sleek - another victim of the branding simplification trend.

But they really are everywhere in Poland. My suspicion is franchisees want to open them because they're one of the few shop brands allowed to trade on Sundays (because they also count as a parcel depot - don't ask).

In the UK, circumventing Sunday trading laws is meaningless, since godless capitalism reigns supreme here.

No, UK Poles are opening frog-based shops mostly to baffle non-Poles. And perhaps because they want frogs back on the sign.

This one in Liverpool has the classic version - a legally-dodgy carbon copy:

Meanwhile, this Zabka in Swindon has gone for a different cartoon style:

This one in Crewe even reassures customers it is open 7 days, just like a real Żabka. And also like any other shop in the UK.

The frog in this Acton one seems to be in the lotus position:

I think this one in Edinburgh is my favourite since it's just a photo of a frog. No cartoons to soften it like in Crewe. And completely off the wall to anybody not in on the reference.

In total, you can find the name Zabka a whopping 70 times on the Companies House website.

Are they officially licensed franchisees? Maybe, but c'mon... we all know they're not.

All this silliness is just another example of how culture, however that's defined, morphs as it crosses borders.

It's also proof that more shopkeepers should put photographs of amphibians in their shop signs.

Video sketch of the week

The other week some US parents got a high school principal fired because their kids saw a photo of Michaelangelo's David during class. I thought SNL had an appropriately silly take on this ridiculousness, with a pretend interview with David himself.

That's it for this week. Many thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed it, please do forward it on to a friend, especially if they like frogs.

Adam

Adam Zulawski

TranslatingMarek.com / Procrastilearning.com / More stuff

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