I like to visit a local mall when I travel and most definitely the grocery stores. The mall provides me with an opportunity to view the local fashions as well as prices. I can also pick up any essentials that I need while I am there. And of course, the grocery stores provide an endless fascination for me. Today I visited the Joker Mall & Tommy Grocery in Split.
Joker Mall
This mall is fairly new, ultra clean, very bright and pleasant. I walked around all 5 stories. Each floor followed a circular pattern around a central open courtyard. The uppermost floor, on the roof, is a food court of sorts with the vast majority of the seating outside on the roof.
I only recognized perhaps two or three stores inside the mall. The rest were all foreign to me. This shopping centre would be equivalent to a mid level mall back home. No upscale boutiques or top brand stores. Catering mostly to regular folk looking for inexpensive clothing and every day items.
Many of the stores were apparel based, mostly womenโs and children. There were a few home dรฉcor stores, several telecommunication outlets and a really large and excellent dollar type store. Each floor had at least one cafรฉ that was serving customers at tables lining the courtyard.
The Joker shopping centre was not crowded but was fairly busy. This mall would be perfect if you were visiting and had small children that needed a safe space to play. I noticed several areas just for little tots. The entire roof is open with seating and a huge outdoor play area.
Tommy Grocery
The bottom floor of the mall has a large Tommy grocery store, the biggest I have seen in the city. It is super clean, bright, contemporary and very well organized. I slowly made my way through the isles perusing the fun and unfamiliar food products. One of my very favourite things to do when I travel.
There are grocery stores everywhere in Split which I think is one of the most incredible aspects of this bustling city. The access to good food is not hard to come by. Walk down a block or two and you will most likely see one of a handful of grocery chains selling fresh veg, baking, seafood, meat, dry goods and household products. Tommy brand is one of these.
Iโll let the pictures speak for themselves. This store was top notch. Things uncommon to me being from Canada were, a huge row of tubular meat products.
Most cheese purchased from a deli type counter, sliced to order.
All mayonnaise products in the refrigerator section. There are none in the dry goods isle. The banning of certain preservatives in Europe makes for healthier food products, and fresh mayonnaise is one such product.
Besides some muesli, this is the only cereal available. It is a tiny section. Back home, the cereal is an entire huge, long and vast isle of sugary yuck.
Very small soda or pop section, and an equally large sized area for water, mineral water and carbonated water.
The produce section in the stores here is very small. This is because there are local mini markets all around town, where you can buy your produce fresh from the farmer. No need for the grocery stores to carry very much.
I really enjoy shopping of any kind and always have. Just like spending time at local markets, the malls and grocery stores can tell me so much about a society and its priorities. The stores here in Split are clean, well staffed, well organized and the only things I havenโt been able to source are mustard, and maple syrup for my Sunday morning pancakes. ๐
Happy shopping!
