A new store opened up this
weekend. It is the first shop in town that might be called a supermarket.
Granted the new store is the size of a gas station convince store, but it is
still quite different from the shopping experience usually found in Mtwara.
Besides the open air market, the stores are often constructed out of reused
freight containers and are usually more of counter that the shop owners stand
behind and that has the wares displayed behind it.
There are a few stores in
town that you can walk into and among the merchandise, and two or three that
even have prices listed (usually you ask and then sometimes have to bargain),
but this is by far the nicest. This place even has A/C which is quite rare;
pretty much the only other places with A/C in town are the banks. Then you walk
into the store that has multiple different aisles to walk down, and there is
even a smaller back room. Some items even have more than one brand to choose from.
The most exciting part of the store is that they have a few different freezers
with frozen meat. Such as frozen shrimp, ground beef, and chicken. Then when
you are ready to check out you bring everything up to the counter where they
have a real cash register. All of the other nicer places just have a calculator
and a drawer with money. This store actually scans your items, rings you up,
and prints off a receipt for you. I had forgotten that it is the norm to get
receipts in the states.
The whole experience of
going into a store like this was really exciting. I just wanted to keep putting
things in my little shopping basket. Justin had to remind me of what we already
had at home. I was getting excited and a little carried away. He had to remind
me that we already have three cans of tomato paste at home and we can buy one
here when we run out of those. I cannot believe how excited I could get over
something so simple.
It really makes me realize
how much I took going to super markets, like Wal-Mart, for granted. I can no
longer hop in the car and drive five minutes to a store that has everything I
want. Now I get on my bike and ride twenty minutes into town. Where I have to
go to several different small stores to get what I want for the week. We
usually think of our shopping list as more of a wish list because there is no
guarantee that the shops will have all we are looking for on that particular
day. There will be things you got one week that are now gone, and then there
are the things that you might never find.
-Lauren
