Kaufland – Open from 07.00 – 22.00 every day © Ricky Yates
Back in September 2011, I wrote an illustrated post about the building work going on to create a large new supermarket on the site of a former bus depot that lies adjacent to the Rezidence Podbaba estate where we live. It was entitled Kaufland prichází! – Kaufland arrives! Well now it is Kaufland je tady! – Kaufland has arrived! On Thursday 31st May 2012, our long awaited Kaufland supermarket finally opened.
As part of the development, as I illustrated in my earlier post, the main section of the former bus depot with its curved roof has been retained and renovated. Then alongside has been built a wholly new two-storey building. This new building houses the supermarket with the former bus depot building now providing a large undercover parking area.
At the back of the development, a further undercover area has been created between the old and new buildings, to allow for large delivery trucks to unload their goods. Then the surrounding steep bank has been tidied up and suitably landscaped with the planting of numerous new trees.
Below is the photograph I took of the rear of building back in September 2011 which also appeared on my earlier post.
Insulation, cement rendering & new construction in September 2011 © Ricky Yates
And here is a similar view taken mid-May 2012, about ten days before the new supermarket opened, showing the completed new building and new undercover delivery area.
New building, undercover delivery area & renovated bus depot – May 2012 © Ricky Yates
Here is a September 2011 view of the side of the former bus depot building, also taken from my earlier post.
Insulation & cement rendering on the side of the building in September 2011© Ricky Yates
And the mid-May 2012 view for comparison. Note the workmen completing the re-roofing of the building.
Side view of the former bus depot building – May 2012 © Ricky Yates
Here are two more very contrasting views, this one below being once more from September 2011.
The new extension under construction in September 2011 © Ricky Yates
Whilst this is the view of the vehicular and pedestrian entrance to the newly opened supermarket taken a few days ago in early June 2012.
New supermarket complete with pedestrian an vehicular access – June 2012 © Ricky Yates
It is really impressive to see the considerable effort that has been made to preserve the original bus depot building and restore it to its former glory. It does provide a large area of undercover parking which will be a boon to shoppers when it rains, and especially in winter, when it snows. This newly erected plaque explains the history of the building.
Plaque explaining the history of the bus depot building © Ricky Yates
It reads in translation:
This bus depot of the Electric Company of the City of Prague was built according to the design of J. Žák and Ing. A. Janda in 1931-1932. The building has a unique, large-span lattice structure roofing of the main hall, measuring 68.4 m The garage served for parking of municipal buses until 2005. The new owner, the Intercora company, conducted a conversion of the premises into a Kaufland shopping centre between 2010-2012. In the process, the garage hall has been retained, including its original steel structure, and in line with its original function, is now used for customer parking.
My thanks to my good friend Katka Bánová for this translation.
Gosh, that is going to be so convenient for you, Ricky, and with undercover parking to boot! 🙂 I can’t help feeling sorry for the owners of the little Potraviny on the estate, though. This will surely hit their business very hard. 🙁
Highly convenient Perpetua, & just 2-3 minutes walk from the flat. I’m afraid we don’t have that much sympathy for the Vietnamese-run Potraviny for two reasons. Firstly, they knew when they opened that Kaufland was coming. And unlike other Potraviny, their customer service is very poor with the regular young man there far more interested in playing Mah-jong on his computer than serving his customers.
Ricky, something odd is happening with your replies to my comments since your revamp. I got Johanna’s comments and also your replies to her, but not your reply to me. The same thing happened last time and I had to come back to your blog to read your response, as it seemed as though you hadn’t replied and I knew that couldn’t be the case. Very puzzled…..
Hello Perpetua – At the same time as approving your comment I’m also asking Sybille to read it and apply her technical know-how to the problem. Watch this space!
Thanks, Ricky. Just to be contrary, this time your response got through. 🙂 I’ve checked my spam filter and your previous ones didn’t get caught up and not arrive. Just one of life’s little mysteries…..
Hello again Perpetua – I think it may need to remain as one of life’s mysteries. Sybille couldn’t see that anything had been altered so there was nothing to adjust. A little glitch in the database is her suggested explanation 🙂
Actually, I noticed today that the Potraviny on our estate has shut down for good. No regrets either on my part, their customer service was always very poor (sorry that I disturb you playing Mah-jong on your laptop / sorry that I disrupt you watching the latest Bollywood movie – but may I pay pretty please? – style). Like Rick said, other Potravinies (spelling?) do actually care about their customers – this one gave you the impression that you were a disturbance to their comfy life. Curious to see what kind of shop will open now in that space – I am all for supporting local businesses as long as they don’t make me feel I am a nuisance to them … SY
Hi SY – It doesn’t surprise me at all. It was going to happen sooner or later & as you say, they did nothing to make you very welcome. What is the plural form of Potraviny? Good question 🙂
Happy shopping in Kaufland! Oh, by the way, it is p?ichází, not prichází. 😉
Ahh… the diacritics are causing problems now… I mean r with a caron on it. 🙂
Hi Johanna – As I have explained several times previously on this blog, for technical reasons that are beyond me, neither I or anyone commenting here can use all the various Czech diacritics because some of them will just appear as ‘?’. ‘r’ with a hácek over it is a case in point which is why I left it out in the first place 😉 And yes, there should be a hácek over the ‘c’ in ‘hácek’ as well 🙂 I would love a technical wizard to inform me what I need to do to correct the problem. An earlier explanation of the problem can be found in the last paragraph of this post http://rickyyates.com/telc/
Yeah, the diacritics cause a lot of pain. I once struggled with ä. I had to write “hännän tärinää”, which means “wagging tail” and the closest I got was “hannan tarinaa”, which means Hanna’s story. 🙂
Johanna – I sympathise, particularly when the absence of the correct diacritics changes the meaning of what you wrote, as in your example.
A new close grocery store is a wonderful thing!
Indeed it is Karen! We’re enjoying the convenience and very wide range of goods on offer. Kaufland also seem to have recruited good staff. One young checkout lady the other evening, realising I wasn’t Czech, tried speaking to me in both English and German 😉
Ricky,
Potraviny is a plural already… 🙂
Singular would be potravina, but you will probably never hear that.
I am planning to shop at your Kaufland, by the way!
Sasa
Thank you Sasa – Because ‘Potraviny’ ends with the letter ‘y’ I assumed that it was already plural. But I’d never seen the singular until now 🙂 However, the temptation when using the word in English is to make it plural by changing the ending & adding the letter ‘s’ to make it ‘Potravinies’. This is no different to what Czechs do when adopting English words which are already plural. They still insist on adding the letter ‘y’ on the end, thus you get ‘jeansy’ & ‘chipsy’ 😉
I like ‘your Kaufland’, but I assure you that we don’t claim personal ownership 🙂
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