How’s Africa – Grocery Store Shopping

A few months ago I posted about shopping in our open air market. A couple weeks ago I posted a video of a trip there. 

We don’t do all of our shopping in the open air market. Our town has several good grocery stores where we buy other things — the things you can’t get at the market.

We used to have a huge, chain grocery store in town. You could get things there that you couldn’t get anywhere else. They went out of business due to corruption in their leadership. 

Thankfully, several of the other grocery stores have stepped in to take up the slack.

We do most of our shopping at Apple Door to Door Supermarket. Nishit, who owns the store, used to manage another grocery store in town (that also went out of business, but that’s another story). When he was fired from his job at the other grocery, he opened Apple Door to Door. He stocks things that many of the other stores don’t — like Dr. Pepper, and American chocolate. He also keeps bacon and sliced ham in stock. We buy Indian snacks for homemade snack mix from him. I’m sure his eyes get shilling signs in them when he sees us coming. 😉

The great part is that Nishit has become a friend. We’ve watched his two girls grow up. His oldest is the same age as my youngest. He and his wife go for morning walks and we see them while we’re out jogging. Sometimes he stocks things just because he knows we like them.

Golf Course Supermarket opened right before the other big chain store opened. I didn’t really like Golf Course at first. Their prices were higher than everywhere else. Then they learned about competitive pricing and everything changed. 

Golf Course is owned and run by a sweet Ugandan woman. She has made changes little by little to attract a diverse clientele. It helps that the store is less than a mile from our house, so if I need something I can walk there and back in less than 20 minutes.

Kirimi Supermarket used to be a tiny, hole-in-the-wall store. I rarely shopped there because it was out of my normal route to and from town. Our guy, Athen, kept telling me I needed to check out the store. 

About 3 years ago, they built a new, bigger store. It’s also owned and run by a Ugandan woman, though I’ve only seen her a couple times. She stocks primarily things that locals will enjoy. The longer we’ve lived here, the more I buy local stuff. 

About 9 months ago, they opened a bakery and deli at Kirimi. The big chain store had a huge bakery and deli but it closed at least a year before the store. Having this open at Kirimi has been a blessing! Their whole wheat bread is soft and delicious. They sell individual Ugandan pizzas. (Not like American pizza, but still good). The store also sells several things we like but can’t find at any of the other stores.

I carry my own cloth shopping bags everywhere and all the shopkeepers in all the grocery stores tease me on the rare occasion I forget. They also tease when I shop by myself because James usually goes and helps me carry it home.

I like that there isn’t usually a huge selection. You can find what you need, but they only have one brand of it. Easy decision. Those stores in the US with 100 different kinds of the same thing make me want to cry. Here, my choice is already made. 

I personally think that shopping was one of the easiest things for me to adapt to here. It’s simple, straightforward, small town, local. I love that I’m supporting local business people, most of them women. I love that I know the clerks and they know me. Like everything else here, it’s all about the relationship. And that relationship is how you can have a real impact on people’s lives.

(All photos taken with permission from the store owners.)