Sienkiewicz - Shops in Vaileka

Note Index | Stephanie Sienkiewicz
SHOPS IN VAILEKA
by Stephanie Sienkiewicz
(researched: 9/7 & 9/8/99)

(typed: 9/9/99)
Summary

We rode to the town of Vaileka on Tuesday, September 7,1999 from the Rakiraki Hotel. Steve drove with Tikiko (spelling?), his son Ilimo (spelling?) and the seven students as passengers. We arrived at the post office and Steve introduced us to an Indian man working at the post office. We walked down the driveway in front of the post office to the street, which we crossed. We then went into a bookstore. We purchased small, hard cover, black and red books to make notes in during and after our interviews. We then split into three groups. Three students went to do research at the market. There were two groups of two students each who researched in shops, including interviewing the shop vendors. Michelle was my partner.

The first shop we went to after the bookstore was a clothing shop. After that we went to a pharmacy. In the first, the clothing store, we asked questions about the different kinds of customers the store aimed to sell to. In the pharmacy we observed and asked questions about the service of the store. We then went to a store entitled "Mid West Markets (Fiji) Limited." Here we approached the employees of the store and asked them questions about selling strategies, for example, and conversed with them. The third and last store that we went to was called "Meenoo's." Here we spoke to employees on topics related to working in such a store as well as general topics of Fijian life.

On Wednesday, September 8, 1999, we drove again to the market and shops in town. Steve drove the students, Karen, Jeffrey, Jiu (spelling?), and her daughter Vaseva. After arriving at the post office and receiving a quick lesson in the workings of the digital camera, we again split up into our 'market project' groups. Michelle and I visited stores we had not visited the prior day. Our first stop was a store called "Kumar's." We purchased articles for some of the students and a toy car for Jeffrey. While we were looking around at the merchandise, we spoke to the salespeople about their items. During the payment interaction we also asked questions of the shopkeepers about payment practices and the staff. After this store, we moved onto another store entitled "M. Abdul & Company." We purchased sulus here and asked the woman who was helping us questions about the store.

Upon leaving this store we walked further down the street in order to find another store to enter. Bill, the chief of Rakiraki Village, approached us. We did not recognize him at first but he reintroduced himself. After we were reacquainted, Bill told us that Va, his wife, was a down the street and across the road and that we should go speak to her. We walked down the road and crossed it then, to look for Va. We found her standing next to a large blue car. Leaning on this car was the big chief. Va introduced us and told us that he is the chief for (40something*) villages. They spoke in Fijian back and forth for some time. Then Va asked us if we had any questions for the chief. I asked him if being the chief was a difficult job. Va repeated the question in Fijian. He then spoke for approximately 15 minutes about such difficulties as arise when you are the chief. He spoke in a mumbling way, inaudibly. Michelle and I laughed when he laughed to indicate interest and understanding of the conversation. I took pictures with the digital camera. One included Michelle and the big chief standing next to each other. The other picture was of the chief, Michelle and Va. The chief wanted me to take this picture to show his American car, including its American flag bumper sticker and "Left Hand Drive" bumper sticker. We closed our session with the chief and Va by mentioning that we had to meet with the other students at that time. Michelle and I discussed that aspect of language and speaking which allows a person to know when she/he should laugh, smile, show disapproval, etc. without understanding the words or subject matter of the conversation.

Layout and Design of the Shops

The clothing stores often looked similar. They sold many of the same fashions. The first store that we went into sold mostly Indian fashions. There were sarees, long pieces of rectangular fabric to be wound and draped around women's bodies. Also displayed on the walls and on the clothing racks were other Indian dresses called salwar kameezes. These are what look like dresses, often with buttons down the front, worn over pants and with a long scarf that is worn in various styles around the neck and shoulders. Many of the salwar kameezes were displayed on the store walls. There were cardboard mannequins placed high on the walls wearing these dresses. The mannequins were all replicas of white women, one of which was Princess Diana.

The Vical Pharmacy was smaller than most of the clothing or other stores in the shopping square. Shelves lined the two walls which were perpendicular to the wall that contained the store's entrance. Items for sale were located on these shelves. On the wall opposite the store entrance was a counter and also a door and window entrance to another room. This was a small room in which medicines are stored. The pharmacist, or chemist, stayed in this room, sitting at the window to the outer room, for the duration of our visit to the pharmacy. Also in the outer room, there were shelves with items in the center of the floor. There were two of these shelves. The items that the pharmacy sold included razors, hair dye, whitening cream, condoms, KY Jelly(r), nail polish remover, coconut oil, and many others. Employees told us that this is where you get prescriptions filled; first you go to the doctor and get a note and then bring that to the chemist to get medicine. The employees told us that it was the "only pharmacy in town."

The third store we went into, Mid West Markets (Fiji) Limited, was about average size for the shops in Vaileka. The three walls other than that of the door's were lined with items for sale. These hanging items were mostly clothes. There was also one large table running along the center of the shop. This was covered with baskets, each filled with a different kind of item. The end of the table faced the door. Attached to the basket nearest the entrance of the store was a large sign which read "Sale $1." There was more children's clothing than any other kind of clothing. This store did not sell any Indian fashions. An Indian woman who worked there said, "We have the Fijian fashions." She was not in a saree or salwar kameez.

Meenoo's was the fourth store we entered. There was a series of large, approximately 1-1/2 feet by 3 1/2 feet, signs reading "SALE" attached to the storefront. Meenoo's is larger than most of the shops in Vaileka. An employee told us that it is "the largest clothing store in Rakiraki." The walls were covered with display clothing. There were many racks of clothing covering the floor. There were also tables or bins, which held clothing for sale. This store sold Indian fashions as well as other types of clothing, sulus for example.

The first store we went into on Wednesday, September 8 was named Kumar's. It was an odds and ends type of store; many items for many different purposes were for sale. Some of which include, plungers, safety pins, soap, hair dye, toys, incense, kinds of medicinal balms, shoelaces, notebooks (including the small, hard covered read and black books that we purchased at the bookstore), pens, pencils, rulers, pencil sharpeners, change purses, kids' clothes, underwear, stickers, necklaces, rings, earrings, canvas bags, shirts, hair combs, and hair picks. We noted this to be one of the busiest stores which we encountered in the square. There were approximately ten other customers while we shopped in Kumar's for about 20 minutes. The store played loud music. This was audible even out on the street and down the street. There was some Hindi techno music, but it was mostly upbeat pop music.

After Kumar's we went to M. Abdul & Company. This is referred to as "The One Stop Shop" on the front sign of the store. One side of the store was a clothing and fabric shop while the other, with a separate front entrance but visible through cutouts in the store wall, was a grocery store. There were many Fijians hanging around the front of the grocery store. I did see any Indians hanging around outside.

Customer Relations Strategies of the Various Shops

When we entered Vical Pharmacy, an employee immediately came over to stand next to us and walked wherever we walked in the store. She did not speak to us at first but just looked at us and at the things we looked at in the store. [Personal reaction: I found this method of dealing with customers to be intimidating. It seemed less friendly and more business-like. I became suspicious of the employees' motives, thinking I might be cheated. I also found that it was much more difficult to strike up a conversation with an employee who followed me around the store. I felt their answers would be tainted as if they were just telling me things to try to make a sale.] The two employees who were working the register and floor took turns waiting on/with customers in this way for every person who came in the shop. When we stood in line for purchase, one employee called the other over, since the former was busy explaining something to a customer, so that we would not have to wait any longer than necessary.

Entering Mid West Markets (Fiji) Limited demonstrated a different strategy for dealing with customers. There were three women working in the shop. When we entered, one employee was sitting on the table that had the display baskets of goods on it. She was reading the newspaper. Another employee was standing behind the counter of the store, also reading a newspaper. The third worker was leaning on the counter. She stood upright when we entered and came over to greet us at the door. She smiled and then returned to her previous post, without following us around. We looked around at the items in the store. The woman behind the counter said "Bula" to us. I looked through my red and black book to find the phrase "sa vano mai vei" (spelling?) to say, ""what's up." I do not think that she understood what I meant because I accidentally said "sa vino mai vei" as I had written it down incorrectly in my book. We started talking to the women then. They were extremely friendly and not just willing, but eager, to talk. One woman, an Indian, dominated the conversation on the part of the shop employees. Since they were sitting around when we arrived and they had not gotten up as we came in, we pointed out to them that this was a strategy different from most of the other shops in town. In most of the others, an employee stays by your side the whole time you are there. They recognized this as a strategy unique to their store. Another woman and her children came into the store as we talked. They did not speak to her until she walked by looking perplexed. The woman behind the counter then asked her what she needed. The employees took pride in their different strategy. I asked them if they acquired regular customers as a result of this different philosophy of dealing with people. They said yes, "Yes, the same people come back. Even if they don't buy anything, we say 'Come in and talk to us'." After talking to the women at the shop and leaving without buying anything, they told us to come back in and talk to them whenever we come to town.

Another feature adding to the employee-customer relationship at Mid West Markets (Fiji) Limited was the diversity of employees. There was one Fijian woman. She spoke Fijian and Hindi fluently as well as some English. She was Christian. Another woman was a Muslim Indian. She spoke Hindi and English fluently as well as some Fijian. The third woman was a Hindu Indian. She spoke Hindi, English and Fijian fluently. The three of them noted that this was a good strategy for dealing with their body of customers which includes tourists, Indians and Fijians. They said that since they all speak three languages, "they have it pretty well covered."

The employees at Kumar's did not follow us around either. An employee came over to us a couple of times when we did not know what an item was to answer our questions. The two employees working out on the floor attended to other customers that were in the store; the customers outnumbered the employees. As we started looking at the jewelry in the store, an Indian man began to tell us how nice such items were. He was saying how good they look when you wear them and other such sales pitches. We decided to buy one necklace and brought that, with the rest of our selections, to the cash register counter. The jewelry was located behind this counter so we continued our conversation with the salesman throughout our payment transaction. We noted that the store was busy and he offered the opinion that the store layout was good. It is good to have everything out in the open to look at, he said, since the merchandise was spread on tables and walls.

Bargaining Versus Fixed Pricing

All of the stores that we went into had price stickers on their merchandise. We did not witness any bargaining in our observations of employee relations with customers. When we cashed out at Kumar's our total was twelve dollars plus some change: $12.XX. The salesman who had been talking to us was standing next to a woman, who we later found out to be his wife. She totaled our bill on a calculator and reported the results to him. He changed our price from $12.XX to twelve dollars exactly. At this point we thanked him and asked if many people bargained in this store. He replied, "Oh yeah." even though there were stickers with prices on the items. He followed with "Sure, we give discounts."

Family-Run Versus Company-Owned Stores

In our research we encountered only one family-owned business. Large corporations either owned the other shops with stores all over Fiji, or the only store run by the company was in Vaileka. Mid West Markets (Fiji) Limited is owned by a big company, according to the employees. Mid West Markets Limited has stores all over Fiji.

We commented to the three employees who were talking to us at Meenoo's that the store was bigger than most in town. They agreed and said that 17 people work there. The most talkative woman of the three said that most shops have only one manager and one employee to run the store and that many have just a manager and family. This was said implying that family members do not count as employees. Employees are non-family and are paid a wage. The women told us that Meenoo's just opened last year and that it is the only one in Fiji. A big company owns it.

A big company also owns M. Abdul & Company. There were many employees there. The workers told us that this is the only store owned by this company in Fiji; it is not a chain.

The one family-run business we encountered was Kumar's. The salesman who was speaking with us is the owner of the store. The woman at the cash register is his wife. She only made small comments throughout the sales process. It was her husband who talked to us the most of the time and used sales pitches and he who gave the discount. They have one son working in the shop, the man told us. The other man working in the store is an employee, unrelated to the family. This is an Indian family.

Ethnicity and Gender of Employees

In none of the shops did we find all Fijian employees. In three of the stores however, we found all Indian employees. One of these was the first store that we went to on Tuesday, September 7. An older Indian woman, approximately in her fifties, was shelling peas on the front counter. The woman who gave us her full attention for the duration of our visit to the shop was also Indian. She did not feel comfortable answering any of our questions and instead insisted on getting her manager to talk to us. This was a man, also Indian. He was not interested in answering our questions accept to give us a favorable impression of his store and merchandise. Kumar's also had employees that were all Indian. The three family members were Indian as was the non-family employee. There were three men, the husband/father, son, and employee, and one woman, the wife/mother. The Vical Pharmacy is the third shop that had only Indian employees. The three workers in the pharmacy were all women. They were relatively young, probably all in their early twenties.

In Mid West Markets (Fiji) Limited, each of the three employees had a different religion/culture. There was one Fijian woman, Emily, who was a Christian. There was an Indian woman who was Hindu. And there was also a Muslim Indian woman. While the three employees and Michelle and I were discussing how they each spoke three languages, the Indian Hindu woman pointed out that the one woman was Muslim. Since she pointed this out before we were talking about religion and while we were discussing the different languages and ethnicities of the women, it is clear that Muslim is not considered a subcategory of Indian. Fijian, Indian, and Muslim are each an ethnic category.

In Meenoo's we talked with three women employees. Two of these were Fijian and one was Indian. We found that each was married when they were 20 years old. They offered us a place to stay and told us to come back if we ever needed anything or just to talk to them. They work everyday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m..

The first employee who gave us her attention at M. Abdul & Company was an Indian woman. The woman who gave us the most attention while we were there was a Muslim woman. This was apparent from her dress. According to dress, most of the other employees that I saw in the clothing section of the store were Muslim. We did not see any Fijians working, nor did we see any men.

Ethnicity and Gender of Customers

In most of the stores we went to we saw both Indian and Fijian customers. In the first store we went to I asked if they aim to sell mainly to Indian customers since they had mostly Indian fashions. The manager however said they sell to all kinds of people. He focused in on how Europeans shop there; it was evident he wanted our business since he said the Europeans often buy "sarees, Indian fashions, everything" and they look very nice in them. At the Vical Pharmacy, we noted that a Fijian man who walked in after us received the same speedy response/following system as we did. While there we observed that there were three Fijian customers; one man was alone and another man and woman were together. There was one Indian male customer. While we were in Mid West Markets (Fiji) Limited there was one female Indian customer with her children. In the larger and/or busier stores such as Meenoo's, M. Abdul & Company and Kumar's there were Fijian and Indian customers.

Friendliness [Personal Reaction]

I was struck by the friendliness and genuine interest of many of the various employees that I met. Some of them evidently had motives other than being friendly while talking to us; a few certainly just wanted us to buy or buy more. But a larger portion seemed to accept that they could help me if I wanted to purchase something but that whether I did or not would depend on my interests, not their pressure. Those who we informed why we were asking them many questions were truly eager to help us and to give us whatever information we wanted to know. I found myself feeling overwhelmed at the onset of the project but by the end of the first day I realized that people were very willing to discuss their stores and lives with me.

A Moment of Pride in Cultural Awareness [Personal Reaction]

At Meenoo's one of the employees said to us, " Your skirts are very long. Most Europeans have very short (indicating length with her hand and leg) and show off their body. It's not good to show off your body." We explained that we had been forewarned and that we too didn't think it was a good idea to show off your body when you go somewhere new, that people could be angry with you and think poorly of you. It was nice to be on this discussion and 'right' side of the issue.

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