When Kampala Supermarkets Turned ‘Black’ on Friday

Written by: 
Maureen Acham

 

It was a stampede at some supermarkets in Kampala on Friday as people struggled to enter shopping malls to take advantage of slashed prices of items.

Dubbed “Black Friday”, supermarkets such as Game had slashed prices of items by half and this was enough for shoppers to make dash for the malls.

Black Friday originates from the US where it comes after thanksgiving holiday. It is regarded as the first day of the shopping season on which retailers make special offers of up to fifty percent discount. The day has been adopted in other countries in the world and Uganda appears to be catching the fever.

And this was the case on the morning of Friday, November 23, at Game Store Lugogo as thousands of people camped at the gates waiting for when the shopping mall will open to begin shopping on amazing discounts.

 Once the mall opened, people of all age groups made a run for the shelves. Everyone rushed to the stalls of their choice and picked as many items as they could carry. Once at the counter, the tellers found it hard to get the total of the goods as at one point the machines stopped working.

 Mutungi Julius, a worker at Game said, “This is our busiest day, we have to wait for people to finish shopping and then organise the supermarket as if we have just relocated.”

 Ngabire Happy, another worker at the gadget section of Game Stores said, “Well, most people usually rush for these gadgets because you can never find them cheaply anywhere else. You can imagine an iPhone XS Max costs 7.2 million shillings but today we have slashed it to as low as 4.2 million.”

 While some people rushed for gadgets, other people went for food stuffs. Several people were witnessed carrying cartons of the two-litre Coca Cola soda because on open market it goes for 4500 shillings but on Black Friday it was going for 2100 shillings.

Other people came for wines and whiskeys like black label. Achen Agnes, a shopper said, “Well me I majorly wait for this day so that I can buy clothes and some children’s items.”

Besigye Barigye, a university student said, “I came for alcohol, nothing else.”

 By midday, the supermarket looked almost empty as majority of the items on the shelves had been bought.

 

The Sunrise Photo