Nyamirambo shops are known for having the best shirts and shoes at an affordable price. Of recent though, shops aren’t letting students, especially those from Uiveristy of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology COSTECH (former KIST) to get in. 

These students will get into the shop even when they know they don’t even have money to buy socks, then try on shoes, shirts and ask their friends to take pictures then pretend like the shirt, jeans or shoes are too tight.

When they fit, they start asking for the price and when they are given a price, which is pretty reasonable, they give their own price which is almost a quarter of what the shop keeper said, in hope that he will disagree. One day they met a shop keeper who took the price they offered and panic vibrated in their bodies.

Right now, every shop keeper knows these students who just come in for pictures. I was also wondering how these students always look good on their social media pages yet in real life their clothes aren’t that good looking.

With this in mind, when a shop keeper notices that the client could be a student, they can only try on something after showing the seller the money to buy it. These students bargain until the shop keeper loses his voice in disagreement.

The student will announce all his problems just to make the shop keeper feel merciful and reduce the price. I understand some shop keepers have resigned from the profession due to the bargaining power of these students.

With very little faith in them and their very small budget, they had to adapt to the high prices that came up due to Christmas, and now they assure the shop keeper how they will bring their friends as well. They will even dial their phones and use the last of their vuga pack minutes to call a friend and tell them about the awesome shop with the best prices.

There is no customer as bad as astudent, is what shop keepers say. And guess what? He is absolutely right because after the students make it life and find "better” places, they trash the shop like they never shopped there.

At some point, I think the shop owners will just chase these students with stones.

campusinspector@newtimes.co.rw