Pewex

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Pewex was created in the 1970s to help combat Communist Poland's foreign currency deficit.

By the late-1960s, it had become apparent that the then socialist centrally-planned economy of Poland was inefficient. The rule of Edward Gierek led to a short period of economic prosperity. With the aid of foreign loans, Gierek instituted a programme to modernise the industry and increase the availability of consumer goods. The standard of living increased markedly and for a time he was hailed a miracle-worker. The economy, however, began to falter during the 1973 oil crisis and by 1976 price increases became necessary, mostly to ease the repayment of these loans.

File:Bon.jpeg

To obtain much needed foreign hard currency from Polish society, authorities permitted in 1972 the creation of a network of shops under a state-owned bank named Pekao. There, the foreign hard currency could be exchanged for both foreign and domestic goods, many of which were unavailable to Poles at that time. Since ownership of hard currency as cash was forbidden and all dollars and Deutschmarks had to be deposited to dollar bank accounts, authorities introduced Bon PeKaO cheques, which were tied to the U.S. Dollar in a 1:1 ratio and could be used as currency in Pekao shops. Later on the Pekao bank created a separate company, Przedsiębiorstwo Eksportu Wewnętrznego – the Pewex.

During the Communist era, Poles were allowed to own dollars, something that was not allowed in other Eastern Bloc states. Many Poles at the time also received remittance from friends and family members in the United States.{{cite news |last1=Yuenger |first1=James |title=Say, how much is that in vodka? |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-11-26-8603280926-story.html |accessdate=19 June 2019 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=26 November 1986}} The US Dollars received by Poles could either be used for foreign travel or used at the Pewex shops. Products that Poles would otherwise have to wait a long time and settle for their poor imitations could be had immediately by buying them at a Pewex shop.{{cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Paul |title=The Lure of a Dollar in Poland |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/09/business/the-lure-of-a-dollar-in-poland.html |accessdate=19 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=9 October 1981}}

Pewex offered a large number of imported items not available for purchase on the normal market. Items were purchased outside of the rationing system then in place, and customers did not have to queue up for items.{{cite web |last1=Brzyska |first1=Anna |title=Coupons and dollar vouchers... or the means of payment in the Polish People's Republic |url=https://www.nbp.pl/en/publikacje/bankoteka/bankoteka-2015-01.pdf |website=National Bank of Poland |accessdate=30 September 2019 |page=12 }} Items sold include liquor, cigarettes, household appliances, candy, cars, computers and furniture.

Shopping at Pewex at the time was seen as a rather exclusive affair, due to the high cost of its items when compared to the average salary at the time. This turned Pewex into a symbol of luxury and privilege.

At the end of 1989, Pewex had a network of 840 shops in Poland.{{cite web |last1=Sels |first1=A.T.H. |title=Foreign direct investment as an entry mode. An application in emerging economies |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2b80/7ac5cd0e8f4b7c5f589f5f58769bb66be6e1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930005500/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2b80/7ac5cd0e8f4b7c5f589f5f58769bb66be6e1.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 September 2019 |publisher=Tilburg University |accessdate=30 September 2019 |page=182 |year=2006|s2cid=167055301 }} In 1987, Pewex was noted in a report issued by the United States Joint Publications Research Service to have had a sales volume of about 70 billion złoty, based on the then-official exchange rate to the US Dollar of "nearly 300 zlotys to the dollar", with a revenue of 20 billion złoty.{{cite web |title=JPRS Report: Eastern Europe |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a346317.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930005501/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a346317.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=30 September 2019 |publisher=Foreign Broadcast Information Service |accessdate=30 September 2019 |pages=30–31, 34 |date=17 February 1988}}

File:Hala "Pewexu" na Podolanach.jpg, Poznań.]]

As part of the peaceful transition of the economic system in Poland after the 1989 revolution in Poland, the Polish economy was privatised and the ownership of foreign currency was deregulated. This made the Pekao cheques obsolete and soon afterwards most of the goods that had only been available from Pewex stores started to be sold in private shops as well.

In 1991, Marian Zacharski, a former Polish spy who was sentenced to life in prison by American authorities for stealing military secrets and was subsequently released in a spy exchange, became the chain's owner and CEO.{{cite news |last1=Engleberg |first1=Stephen |title=Polish spy trades cloak and dagger for cash register |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-01-27-9101080551-story.html |accessdate=30 September 2019 |work=Chicago Tribune |agency=New York Times News Service |date=27 January 1991}}

In 1993, Pewex filed for bankruptcy for the first time. However, this and subsequent bankruptcy filings were rejected.{{cite book |last1=Cienski |first1=Jan |title=Start-Up Poland: The People Who Transformed an Economy |date=2018 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226306810 |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fDpJDwAAQBAJ |accessdate=30 September 2019}} In December 1995, it was announced that a debt restructuring deal would see a bank named Polski Bank Rozwoju, along with two French companies, swap a debt worth 93.6 million zlotys at the time for a majority stake in 1996.{{cite news |title=Creditors to takeover retail chain |url=https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Issue-133-December-10-16-1995.pdf |accessdate=30 September 2019 |work=New Europe |issue=133 |date=10-16 December 1995 |page=17 }} In 1997, the approximately 150 stores still operating under the Pewex brand were taken over by Concorde Investissement, and Pewex took over its immovable real estate portfolio as Towarzystwo Handlu i Nieruchomości Pewex S.A. (THiN Pewex). In 2003, THiN Pewex and Concorde Investissement merged, which resulted in the complete phase-out of the Pewex brand from the Polish market.{{cite web|title=Pewex dokonał żywota|url=http://warszawa.biznespolska.pl/gazeta/article.php?contentid=86299|author=Cezary Pytlos|agency=biznespolska.pl|date=24 March 2003|access-date=2010-08-24}}{{dead link|date=June 2022}} In December 2013, the Pewex brand was re-activated as an online shop mostly selling novelty items operated by Monster Media Group, the owners of demotywatory.pl. The Pewex brand is also used by an otherwise unrelated chain of supermarkets in Italy.{{cite web | url=https://businessinsider.com.pl/firmy/pewexy-czyli-historia-chytrej-podmiany-importu-na-eksport/x84fv26 | title=Pewexy, czyli historia chytrej podmiany importu na eksport | date=12 September 2020 }}

• Baltona
• Shortage economy
• Eastern Bloc economies
• Beryozka (Russian retail store), a Soviet Union counterpart
• Intershop, an East German counterpart
• Tuzex, a Czechoslovak counterpart

• Zlot a lot of dollars. (Pewex stores in Poland), The Economist, May 1988

{{reflist}}

• {{in lang|pl}} [https://archive.today/20130113195006/http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/1428496,720,kioskart.html Atlantyda Ludowa, czyli jak zmarnowano najlepszą markę PRL-u]
• Ewa Cander-Karolewska, [http://www.elve.net/padv/en/shop.htm#pewex Painted advertisement for Pewex], 1 August 2007,

{{Hard currency shops in socialist countries}}

Category:Hard currency shops in socialist countries

Category:Retail companies established in 1972

Category:1972 establishments in Poland

Category:Retail companies of Poland

Category:Defunct retail companies

Category:Polish People's Republic