February 21, 2008

•  New Supermarket in Nizwa 

  They've opened a new supermarket in Nizwa this morning. It's called the TSC Discount Store and the concept is the same as for the Lidl supermarket chain in Europe - everything is prepackaged and the customer puts the food in the shopping bags themselves (that is a completely new concept in Oman, I tell you!).

  A new supermarket might not be much to write home about - unless you regularly drive 150 kilometers to go shopping in Muscat for all those things you can't get here in Nizwa (which almost all teachers here do).

  We've been speculating about this new supermarket for almost a year now as they've been working on the building for ages and ages, and mostly it has gone something like this: Wouldn't it be nice if we had a really good supermarket in Nizwa so trips to Muscat would be for relaxation and fun, not for buying stuff like fresh meat and cheese? So, with much anticipation, I went to the TSC Discount Store this morning with the list below. These are the things I can't get (or are difficult to find) here in Nizwa:

  • fresh meat
  • fresh fish
  • muesli
  • fresh wholemeal bread/French sticks/ciabatta
  • pasta sauce
  • soy milk
  • cold cuts
  • cheese
  • margarine
  • Diet Pepsi
  • fresh veg (esp. broccoli, asparagus and decent tomatoes)
  • fresh fruit

  With meat, they do sometimes sell fresh meat in the supermarkets here, but generally that means that they have half a lamb kept in a lukewarm deli counter. With cheese, they seem very fond of this pre-sliced rubbery processed cheese, but you can't get normal cheeses like cheddar, emmental, brie, camembert, stilton or gruyere in Nizwa (occasionally, I've seen Edam).

  The TSC Discount store looked very clean and spacious, but very quickly I realised that they did not have many of the things I was looking for. From the list above, I only found:

  • fresh meat
  • cold cuts
  • margarine
  • Diet Pepsi

  They did have a lot of fresh fruit and veg, but it was prepackaged in large packs - like, you know, two kilos of apples, or enough tomatoes to last a single person for six weeks.  This will go down well with the Omanis (it's not unusual for Omani families to have around ten kids), but I'm not really interested in buying four heads of lettuce. Just one will do.  They've got a good selection of fruit at the other supermarkets, but it's not always fresh. I think they keep stuff on the sheleves for as long as possible and just hope that people will buy it, even if it's overripe and starts looking decidedly unfresh.

  Anyway, the cash out girl smiled at me this morning and that is a first in Nizwa! The girls taking your money here in the local supermarkets normally glare at you, like you're an intruder or something, even if you've been coming to the same shop for 18 months.

  One of the store managers said they got lots of Diet Pepsi because he drinks it.  That's good news - it's often impossible to get Diet Pepsi here in Nizwa. Sometimes I wonder if some influential local person believes it's harmful to drink Diet Pepsi and for that reason local stores are reluctant to stock it. I can't see any other reason, since I keep asking - again and again - for the local supermarkets to stock Diet Pepsi but I hardly ever see it on the shelves (they've always got dozens and dozens of trays of Pepsi). What's the point of not stocking something that is sold as soon as they get it? Which is what happens, since I always buy Diet Pepsi on the rare occasion when they have it. I just don't get it.

  The people at the TSC Store all seemed friendly and helpful and they said they will ask about what people want so they can adapt what's on the shelves for the local customers (they are also opening outlets in Samail and Rustaq this week). That's good news. Hopefully, I'll be able to buy muesli, pasta sauce and cheese in Nizwa soon. 

  But for the time being, to be able to buy fresh meat and cold cuts locally is a huge improvement.
  

  • 1:56 am
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