Focus: On the shopping spree

Vannessa, 29, slowly makes her way thorough the stall of the new Nakumatt supermarket at the Union Trade Center building in Kigali. She is one of the trend setters that make Kigali a city with a craze for for shopping that know no bounds. She explains that whenever she has free time, she has to go shopping in town. “I just like shopping and can’t imagine a week going by without going to the supermarket,” says the mother of twoBut how does she support her shopping escapades on a weekly basis. She responds “I’m a single mother of two and I’m not married”. I asked her how that has got anything to do with her financial status to support her shopping addiction. To this, she responds with a wink and goes on to tell me she has got a horde of admirers from the opposite sex, most of whom are loaded with limitless flows of cash. And truly, she has exploited this to the maximum advantage. But of course there are others who are not in that category; some go out there with their families on weekends to buy essential commodities that help many a family to get by. Jackie is a house helper in the uptown Nyarutarama estates. She once in a while goes out to shop for the family she works for at Ndoli’s supermarket located at Kisementi in Remera. She says it has become a culture that she will have to do shopping for the needs of her boss and the kids in the home. “For us when we run out of stock, I have to go and do shopping, I am always given money every after two weeks,” she explains her shopping behavior. What is seen in most of the up market super markets like the one opened recently by Nakumatt, is hordes of people doing shopping for household items. Apart from these you will find a few who are the ‘who is who’ of Kigali and young corporate types. Henry, 31, says that the shopping tastes of many in Kigali are shaped by the limits of their pockets. “If you have deep pockets, you will shop wherever you want to”. This, he adds is the reason many supermarkets in Kigali are frequented by those who dwell in up town Kigali. Henry explains; “Apart from a few young guys who are sometimes out to impress the opposite sex, there is not much to talk about shopping by many of the young Kigalians”. Patrick, a journalist in Kigali sees the opening of new supermarkets as timely and shrewd business acumen on part of the proprietors. He says that many people in recent times have become addicted to consumerism. He admits that he personally enjoys window shopping. But this is only when he is broke with little money to spend on shopping. But when loaded with cash, especially at the beginning of the month, the story is much different. “When I have money, this window-shopping turns very quickly into real shopping” he explains as we browse through the stands packed with goods in down town Kigali.He explains to me that many people who go out shopping are just out there to keep up with the ‘Johns’. I asked him what that means and quickly he responds: “Some of these people just go to big supermarkets to keep up appearances that they are affluent and rich when in the actual sense they are bleeding financially”. But whatever the motivation, with supermarkets opening up in all corners of Kigali, there is no lack of what to go shopping for. Let your pocket be the only limit. Contact: frank2kagabo@yahoo.com