When we want to buy something, we go to a shop. In my early childhood going shopping was a holiday for me, especially when my Cranny took me with her. I knew for sure, I would get a sweet or a bar of chocolate or an ice-cream, all the things I enjoyed greatly.
Recently, shopping is no fun any longer, but my daily duty. And as all duties it is tiresome sometimes. I dream to be an economist, and maybe this dream printed on my approach to shopping. I try to be rational and economical. Once in a TV programme titled “A Consumer’s Basket” I heard some rules of behaviour while shopping and since then I try to follow them. Here they are. First of all it is necessary to make a shopping list of what we need. Then we should calculate how much our purchases would cost and take this very sum of money with us. The third rule tells that we shouldn’t be hungry while shopping, a hungry person buys the things his or her stomach dictates to buy, not thinking about prices or rational nutrition. And we shouldn’t go shopping immediately after we have got our salary, when we feel impressed by a large sum of money and don’t think it’s for a long month to last, not for a short moment when we feel rich and almighty.
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Everyday shopping is rather traditional: some white and brown bread, some milk, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, some sausage of frankfurters. But it’s not necessary to visit different provisional shops such as bakery, grocery or butchery to buy food for the family because we could buy foodstuffs in a supermarket. Different goods are sold under one roof, so customers can save their time having all goods bought in no time.
The method of shopping may very. In a self-service shop a customer goes from counter to counter selecting and putting into a basket or trolley the goods he wants to buy. It’s absolutely necessary to check the dates before which this or that foodstuff should be used, not to buy something of bad quality. Then a customer takes the basket to the check-out counter where the prices of the purchases are added up. If it’s not a self-service shop and most small shops aren’t, the shop-assistant helps the customer in finding and getting what he wants. After paying money to the cashier the customer can get his purchases.
Every day before leaving for school I look around the kitchen to see what we need. And on my way from school I drop into the nearest supermarket, fortunately enough it’s not far from my house, and buy bread and other everyday essentials. Every Friday evening my Mum and I examin our kitchen more carefully as Saturday is our shopping day. The shopping list is rather long, so we both go shopping.
Mum and I go to the supermarket where we can buy different things at once: fish, bread, sausages, flour, tea, sugar, spices, eggs. I think that a bakery department is among the best in the shop as it has a rich choice of rolls, buns and biscuits. And what is more importable they are always fresh and tasty. We all have a sweet tooth, so we never miss the confectionery, where we usually buy sweets, candies, chocolate bars, cakes and so on.
Another department of the supermarket, which we have to visit, is a dairy. At the dairy we buy milk, cream, yogurt, cheese, butter and other products. My Mum and I are regular customers at the greengrocer’s where potatoes, carrots, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, beetroots, oranges, apples and other fruits and vegetables are sold. But frankly speaking in summer we prefer buying fruits, berries and vegetables at the nearest market. They are fresher and cheaper there.
At the butcher’s there’s a wide choice of meat and poultry, such as beef, pork, mutton, chicken and turkey. It’s really a great skill to choose a piece of meat you need, for soup or for chops or shashlyk, so it’s my Mum who is to buy meat. I’m still to learn a lot in this sphere of shopping.
Different cereals, flour, sugar, salt, tea, coffee, different spices can be found at the grocery. (Add the essay “The Nearest Shop”)
Sometimes, not very often I should admit, I have to go to a department store. Any department store, true to its name, is composed of a number of departments where customers can buy everything they like: fabrics and footwear, china and glass, ready-made clothes and cosmetics, toys and electric appliances, furniture and sport goods, cameras and films, and what not. Nowadays some larger department stores contain a supermarket and coffee shops where customers can have a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Goods are displayed in the attractive window displays so even before entering we see a great amount of goods of high quality ready to meet our tastes and needs. But frankly speaking my family and I prefer buying at the market, as it is cheaper there. Very often we have a richer choice of goods there as well.
I can’t but say that our shops are becoming more and more European-like. Their halls, shelves, adverts attract more customers. Long queues are little by little disappearing from our life and shopping gets some element of fun and entertainment.
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