Street traders offer a better bargain than stores as Zimbabwe's currency crumbles
Shoppers in Zimbabwe are increasingly turning to street traders to buy what they need as the local currency plunges in value against the U.S. dollar
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Festus Nyoni picked out a few items in a supermarket in Zimbabwe’s capital, looked at the prices and knew she was in the wrong place.
She abandoned her shopping cart and headed for a nearby street jammed with traders offering bargains in U.S. dollars. From the trunk of a car, she picked toiletries, rice and soups. For her two children, a young street vendor dodged traffic to offer her a box of candy.
“I can’t keep up with those Zim dollar prices in the supermarket — it’s insane,” Nyoni said, referring to the local currency. "For the price of one in the supermarket, I am getting two soaps in the street.”
A yearslong currency crisis that forced the 2009 adoption of the U.S. dollar — one of the world’s most reliable assets — is changing shopper preferences in this southern African nation of 15 million. Many people are shunning brick-and-mortar stores, where prices must be charged in local currency and rise frequently.
