When I first arrived in Paraguay supermarkets were a common sight in Asunción but few and far between in the rest of the country. This has changed completely in the years that I have lived here.
As I mentioned, years ago when I first came to Paraguay supermarkets were very much an Asunción thing. Apart from a few independent stores the trade was very much controlled by as small number of brands such as Stock and España.
Beyond the reach of Asunción trade was still in the hands of independent businesses which operated on every high street in the form they had always done. Each with it’s own range of produce and opening hours.
This was also a time before self service stores when inefficiency and over staffing were the order of the day as each member of the extended household had to be given something to do.
On the whole these were old fashioned stores with a shop counter and behind that, where the customer could never tread the stock.
To buy something could be a complicated affair. Even more so without full knowledge of the proper names for everything. To obtain each item it needed to be requested at the counter, to have that request relayed back to someone in the stock room or between the shelves and then have the item bought to the counter for inspection to confirm it was the correct item and then have the whole process repeated until everything had been found. That was not quite the end of the matter as everything then had to be passed to the guardian of the till, possibly via a further person who would check the addition of the bill.
As can be seen this was not a very efficient way to go about doing the shopping. It also very much limited opportunities to choose between brands or make impulse purchases.
To make matters still more complicated each store stuck rigidly to it’s particular line of products so even the most simple of shopping lists would involve visits to half a dozen shops and fill a whole morning.
Fortunatly this is now a thing of the past and most of the old stores have now become self service, become whole sale or changed their line of business.
Of my two nearest towns it was not surprising that Paraguari being the largest gained a supermarket first.
At first the largest of the old stores was converted into a supermarket. This shop contained the range of goods that would be expected in a small supermarket but never had enough room for them. The result was a very cramped space with shelves so tightly packed together there was barely space to get past a shopper who had stopped to look at something and certainly no room for a trolley.
The business though was profitable enough to move next door to a large newly built premises with wide aisles and a brightly lit warehouse like interior.
Since opening a large extension has been built on one side and two more supermarkets have opened in town. So business must be good.
Meanwhile Piribebuy being smaller it took longer for the idea of supermarkets to catch on. The first was within the shell of a renovated old colonial building. This was not the best location as the floor was on two levels causing a high step to run across the shop and be negotiated when ever any passed up or down an aisle. It has since been converted to a homewheres store to which the building is much better suited.
In addition to this problem whilst the supermarket remained in that premises it kept the old siesta and so was closed from lunch time until mid afternoon. That was clearly not the best way to operate and left the business somewhere between the old and the new.
Since that time thankfully it to has moved into a new perpose built building and opens more usual hours. This place also had not long after opening a large extension built.
With these large cavernous buildings replacing small stores it is no wonder that apart from just before festivals such as Christmas they are largely free of crowds. In fact to shop early afternoon in Piribebuy is to have the store almost to yourself.
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