Shopping Center

I was guided by my new friend Julia. She is Moldovan but just moved back from spending the last seven years in Atlanta. Her expired visa has brought her here while most of her family is back in the States. Her toddler is American. It is a different experience to have a translator. We went to a shopping center named Unic in search of a winter coat for Chloe. Five stories of small, individually-owned specialty shops. The stores are not separated by walls and are about six feet square in size. By specialty, I mean each station or store sells one type of thing. Imagine a very tall mall made entirely of the center kiosks found in American malls. The fabric store does not sell thread or needles, that is a separate store. There were stores for toys, dishes, knick-knacks, cosmetics, bras, underwear, musical instruments, musical instrument accessories, makeup, moisturizer, perfume, hair accessories, hair products, jewelry, candles, tea and more.

This is one of the tea shops. You can create your own tea blend from many different herbs, flowers and dried bits.

The clothing is hung on racks which are hung by multiple strings of fishing line attached to the ceiling. Couture dresses. Only one of each kind looking like they are suited for the red carpet or an inaugural ball.  Small clothing stores have one of each kind as well. If it is not your size, move on because there is not another ‘in back’ and each store has something different.

As a generalization (which I do not ordinarily make), people in Chisinau have great style and seem to be very fond of embellishments on their clothing. Women are very fit and take care of themselves, being sure to put on perfume and a full face of makeup before going out.

The way to transfer floors is by escalator. Each escalator has its own attendant who would tell us to take the children out of the strollers for the escalator. Out of nowhere, five people would assist us by carrying bags and strollers up the escalator then returning them to us at the end of the ride. These are not employees. Not one person was asked to help us. They just helped. When finished they did not have the look  of “I feel good having completed my good deed for the day” on their faces. It was no big deal, it was not a ‘good deed’ to them, it was expected behavior. I was amazed. There are five floors so we did this eight times and each time complete strangers assisted us unrequested.

Another shocking element to the experience was the unconcern for shop lifting. Many store attendants are the owners and they will walk off for breaks and to talk to other store owners. There are no security cameras and I did not see any security guards. My Moldovan friend told me that shoplifting and child nabbing is not something that you have to worry about here. Moldovan culture is different than the U.S. American culture; I knew that coming here. What I did not know was how very much I would grow to love Moldova the more I learn about it.  We found a lime green ultra-warm coat for Chloe. All the choices had fur lined hoods but we opted for one without any words on it.