So, this morning in between paying our rent, bills and other stuff, we passed by Champion, the new mall that opened this week in Lafayette in downtown Tunis.
It looks really nice from the front and on the inside, but it’s a bit too small to be called a mall actually, so maybe mini-mall would be more suitable.
A lot of the shops and boutiques still haven’t opened yet and the food court is still under way but the supermarket section is working and already over-crowded.
The first thought I got when I walked into the supermarket was: this is more like a Monoprix loaded with the exact same stuff that’s in Carrefour but packed into a smaller area.
Anyway, even though I found myself thinking of how the lanes, counters and some other little things here and there were shopper unfriendly, I think it’s really nice and a great addition to the Tunisian shopping scene.
I hope it takes off some of the load Carrefour gets so that the latter can go back to being a good shopping experience.
It’s funny that people in tunisia dress up nicely (as if they are going to a club or a wedding) when going to Carrefour. That’s what I noticed when i went to tunisia this summer, and it just made me laugh!! anyways, if i was living in tunisia, ill be going to “magasin general” rather than Champion! Hell ya i wanna help tunisian products even people working in theses mini “stop and shops” are less than friendly, which shows that they are unhappy about their work, thus their wages. Also, when we buy things, we have to put them in bags ourselves. And when someone comes from NY (usa, canada… dunno about europe though), he finds that not welcoming at all, as in the US, the cashier does that, which is logical and smart business, makes people come again and again and again….. just some thoughs lol
LOL…
Well, yeah I know what you mean about the people who dress up nicely when going to Carrefour, lol.
Anyway, I do not agree with you about the people not being friendly because they’re unhappy with their jobs. That’s not the reason. The reason is the lack of care about customer satisfaction in these stores and in other Tunisian businesses in general.
The store owner has to tell the people at the counters to help the customers and that it’s part of their job description to be friendly and nice.
But with the store owner not giving a damn because he considers people to be obliged to buy from him, the cashiers will remain to be bitchy and the customers will always be unsatisfied.
But still the customers keep going back for more. So why should the store owner care after all?!
As for buying from Magasin General, Champion, Carrefour, Monoprix, Bonprix or whatever other store. It’s the same stuff that you find in all of them, the same Tunisian made products and the same imported ones, it’s only the decor that really changes.
In Germany, you have to put the things you bought at a super market(for food) yourself in bags. Bags cost about 10 Cents or more(depending on the quality). Free bags and better service at the counters are to be found in bigger “malls” that do not sell food such as Karstadt or Kaufhof… Taking care of customers is a fundamental part of the business, but not everywhere here(especially if you want to buy food 🙂 ).