Random Thoughts About Shopping

Some interesting observations about shopping in Russia:

I have been wondering why in Russia there are a lot of stores where you first have to tell the lady behind the counter what you want (to look at) and just then can look at. Today I had “some” idea why that might be the case: Maybe as in Soviet times (and probably also before) there wasn’t that much choice (and maybe also not that much money) people would just go to the shops when they already knew WHAT they had to buy. So they would just exactly tell the lady behind the counter: “Please give me that and that!” and it wouldn’t take to long.

For me it’s interesting though because for us (Austrians) it’s just normal to go around the shops and just to look at the products but here I sometimes have the feeling, that I kind of have to buy the things, if I go in such a shop with a counter.

Anyways, another interesting thing is that there isn’t really any such phrase in Russian as “shopping” or “to go shopping” or to shop. There is this phrase “ходить по магазинам”, which means something like “walking around the shops”.

Funky Places to Situate a Shops
I already wanted to close this blog-entry but then I remembered that it might be quiet interesting to know, that in Russia, a lot of shops are just situated in the strangest places, where you wouldn’t at all expect a shop to be. You are walking along the street, might be on your way to a friend of yours, you enter the backyard through an iron-gateway (that might even need to be opened with a special numeral code) and then in the backyard you find a beauty salon, or a small 24-h-shop or anything else. A lot of shops are also situated in cellars – that might or might not be accessable or viewable from the main street.

Russia and its shops are just great I love them: They are open 24/7 and they sell anything you can dream of but hardly any Russian products.