Shopping

No explanation of Russia is complete without a brief discussion of shopping.

Gone are the days of huge lines waiting to buy toilet paper or oranges. Russia now has a thriving import economy and Western goods are easy to find in the stores. However, imported goods in fancy western stores are too expensive for most people, so the local "rinok" (market) does a thriving business in cheap, home-produced items.

Besides the rinok and western stores, there are also separate "state" food stores where you can buy milk products, meat, vegetables, and bread. But not all in the same place. You would need to go to three stores and stand in at least six lines to pick up the minimum fixings for dinner. You would not be alone, either, since all of Moscow's 11 million inhabitants seem to shop at the same time!

The best way to understand shopping in Russia is to think of a flea market about two minutes before closing time. The shoppers are shoving and pushing and panicking that they won't get that one item they absolutely MUST have.

Now you know why I consider shopping (in Russia) a full contact sport. I've had to throw elbows and shove people--even old ladies!--out of my way in order to buy bananas. On top of this ugliness was the infamous Russian "Service with a Snarl," a lovely tradition left over from the Soviet Union which made the sales ladies believe they had the right to yell at me because they didn't like my accent. There were times that I was reduced to tears by the aggressive, combative nature of buying food for dinner. Now that I am back in the USA and have the luxury of going to the supermarket once a week, the daily shopping hassles I endured for nearly five years seem surreal.

Here are a couple rinok pictures. This rinok was outdoors and year round. It's prices were a bit more expensive than the "state" stores, but the people were nicer and the lines not so severe.