Shopping

Because there is one car for every 260 Kenyans, stores are located for walkers.  There are many, many small shops.  About 100 feet from our front door is a row of shops, each no more than 12 feet wide.  There are several types of shops.

There are the general merchandise shops.  You stand in an entryway that is about 3 feet x 4 feet, and look in through a wire screen at the shopkeeper and his selection.  These stores have flour, maize, sugar, salt, soap, toilet paper, candy, bread, and a few other basics.  Next door to our closest general merchandise shop is another, seemingly identical.  Of course you can also buy cell phone minutes, starting at about 12 cents worth of air time.

Fruit stands are usually a rickety 4 feet x4 feet stand not attached to other shops.  The selection varies.  As I walk past the stands I look to see what each has.  They usually have a couple items, including mangoes, papayas, bananas, pineapples, or oranges.  They might have a few vegetables as well.

Vegetable stands are constructed like fruit stands.  Also, like fruit stands, their selection varies.  If I want tomatoes, onions, carrots and potatoes I will usually have to go to three different stands.  Also popular (with Kenyans in general and Carey and me, but not so much Uhuru and Apollo) is sukuma wiki, a kale like vegetable.

The word “hotel” signifies a restaurant.  There is a hotel in our chain of shops.  We haven’t eaten there, but I have bought chapatis to go for about 12 cents each.

About 300 feet up the road is a similar selection of shops; the array of shops seems to repeat very frequently.  In the kilometer between our house and the center of town we pass a couple dozen general merchandise shops, about 25 fruit stands and 25 vegetable stands.   The proximity of the shops is convenient- we can walk out to pick up some eggs or bread if we are running out.

At the center of town are three supermarkets which carry more variety of bread, biscuits, beauty aids, jam, juice.  There is a large vegetable market where about 75 independent sellers display their wares.  Another section of the market contains a wide variety of clothes.  On Saturdays it is especially crowded.  Vendors bring in enormous bundles of clothes.  While looking for a skirt for Uhuru, Carey found a Value Village price tag.  I guess bundles of clothes from thrift stores find their way to Africa.

Finally,about 30 minutes away in the big town of Eldoret, is Nakumatt.  Nakumatt is a fully equipped western style store like Fred Meyer.  You can find Italian pesto, American peanut butter, scrabble, car seats, clothes etc.  The prices are pretty much the same as an American Fred Meyer as well.  We loaded up on spices and got some cheese and butter there last week.