Kulich Julianna - Török Róbert: „A good merchant is the benefactor of the world”. Two centuries of Hungarian trade (Budapest, 2016)
82 ?is relative independence, that the Centrum Company allowed, boosted the stores’ retail trade. Besides, there was not such a lack of goods in stores as in the 1950s. Department stores became modern shopping places where everything was available that was needed in everyday life. Clever store managers always found ways to enrich their offer with merchandising world brands and to stimulate business by organizing different events and bargain sales. In the 1980s the variety of goods in the stores widened due to the fact that the stores found ways and special methods to leave out wholesale trade companies and barter goods directly. After the change of socialist regime, the privatisation of the stores started. Several department stores continued operating within the Skála or the Centrum chain but quite a lot closed down forever. Today, most of the former department stores in the countryside house shops selling cheap Chinese goods. Skála boy (kópé – coop) ?e largest co-operative store was Skála. ?ey had one of our best promotional figures called Skála boy. Its name “Skála Kópé” originated from the name of the SKÁLA-COOP company (kópé also meaning a playful character). ?e Skála stores with their wide selection of quality goods represented quality through decades of shortage economy. As a phenomenon SKÁLA-COOP defined the direction of the whole Hungarian retail trade. In its heyday in the 1980s, the company was present in almost all major cities. Its promotional figure, the Skála boy has become a favorite for generations, its advertising slogans were widely known. (“Dear shoppers, I am the Skála boy, my heart is yours whenever I come, whenever I go, but how well you make ends meet when I go in.”) ?e Skála’s promotional character was a prankster, its cartoon figure featured in TV commercials as well. ?e object here was one of children’s favorite figures among promotional gifts in the 1980s. ◆ Co-operative store in Nagykanizsa, front and interior, 1970s
