Pre-holiday fever is boiling in Plovdiv’s department stores and is about to turn into hysteria. It’s really lucky to find a parking space in a retail park, especially if there’s a food chain there.
Motorists park in the surrounding streets where they seethe, risking fines. Even from the overcrowded parking lots it is clear that the shops are a real madhouse.
Significantly, shopping carts are also in short supply.
Interestingly, people rushed this afternoon to buy the little things necessary for the New Year’s table, since the carts are not overflowing. Customers walk out with two or three plastic bags of purchases.
In addition to food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, sufficient quantities of toilet paper are being purchased again, a phenomenon that has remained unsolved since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tomorrow, food chains will have shorter working hours. Lidl, for example, will close at 7.30pm, but Lexi will be open until 9pm. New Year’s Day is a day off for Kaufland and Lidl employees and Lexi will open at 10am.
According to bank reports, ATMs are loaded with holiday cash. But there’s also a queue at ATMs, especially on Main Street.
Merchants recommend making purchases with your debit card directly at the checkouts of large stores, as there is no commission. And when we withdraw from an ATM, we will be charged a deduction.
As expected, the traffic on the city’s central streets is heavy and nerve-wracking.
With the idea of moving faster, some had ridden motorcycles. But in traffic jams, this does not help either.
Photo by Natasha Maneva
