diff --git a/Lib/decimal.py b/Lib/decimal.py
index 38e93de..b3d84e7 100644
--- a/Lib/decimal.py
+++ b/Lib/decimal.py
@@ -5441,7 +5441,7 @@
             format_dict['precision'] = 1
 
     # record whether return type should be str or unicode
-    format_dict['unicode'] = isinstance(format_spec, unicode)
+    format_dict['unicode'] = True
 
     return format_dict
 
@@ -5486,10 +5486,6 @@
         half = len(padding)//2
         result = padding[:half] + sign + body + padding[half:]
 
-    # make sure that result is unicode if necessary
-    if spec_dict['unicode']:
-        result = unicode(result)
-
     return result
 
 ##### Useful Constants (internal use only) ################################