Critical Guide To Eight Unique Shops In Budapest

Gallwitz Pipes And Pearls V. Régiposta utca 7 – 9.,

The oldest pipe seller and pipe mender in Budapest, this shop, which is situated downtown on a quiet side street, has been operating since 1880. Mr. Gallwitz, who died in 2003, was an oldfashioned person who seemed to have not realized that liberty and free business were back. He used to do business in his private first floor apartment. Check the web site to see a commercial shot in 1945 (you can also order pipes and pearls there).

Tamas Grunberger: Chandeliers VI. Nagymező utca 21.

This shop seems to have been around for 100 years, and it even operated during the Communist years. The present owner is a third-generation chandelier specialist with a prima donna wife from the nearby Operetta Theatre and an active social life. This is where the biggest synagogues in Europe order replacements parts.

V & R Cimfestő: Hand-Painted Signs VI. Oktogon 4.

This is an amazing cellar which has access from the street, which you are likely to mistake for a public lavatory. Here you can order old-fashioned hand-painted street signs and all kinds of indoor and outdoor signs.

Agi Gyumolcs Greengrocers XIII. Tátra utca 20.

This family greengrocer offers the freshest and best quality produce in the area. It is a small shop on the corner of Raoul Wallenberg utca with an entrance on each street. It used to be run by the lady for whom the shop was named. In this book’s first edition I wrote: “Inside, there is stern-looking Agi in her sixties (careful! do not call her Aunt Agi!), who does not pamper her customers. There are many family pictures on the walls, and children and grandchildren who have been known to work in the shop. There are also motorcycle ads and the hallmark of the shop was for many years beyond doubt a Western European poster from the 1960s which showed a small boy lifting the very short skirt of a tall young lady, and peeping upwards.”

Unger Brush Products VII. Dob utca 52.

This amazing institution offers an incredible selection of brushes, from tiny to enormous, even the type which were used to clean barrels at the Unicum factory.

Fleisher Shirt Makers VI. Nagymező utca 7.

Few people still buy their shirts bespoke, but this shop (on the corners of Paulay Ede and Nagymező utcas) has remained here almost unchanged since the 1920s. The partition between the shop and the window is made from traditional engraved glass with vertical stripes.

Lajos Libal, Optician V. Veres Pálné utca 7.

Some of the fittings here might well be a century old, such as the small drawers. Mr. Libal is not around any more. The senior, respectable lady, who is referred to as “Aunt Libal” in the neighbourhood, is, as a matter of fact, called Brassai Jozsefne.

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