Listless employees, shelves where the same product is repeated and broken floors in several places, the La Puntilla Shopping Center, in the Havana neighborhood of Miramar, summarizes the situation of stores in freely convertible currency (MLC) in Cuba. The markets opened two years ago, to sell food and cleaning products, are foundering between shortages and high prices.
The queue was small this Saturday morning outside what was once the consumer palace of the Playa municipality. The proximity of the sea and the beauty of a coast where the Almendares River flows now contrast with the deterioration of the premises. What until a few years ago showed an intense commercial life, with informal vendors outside the premises, taxi drivers hunting for customers who left with full bags and a cafeteria with tables full of consumers, now looks like a ghost mass.
“Come in, come in everyone,” says the custodian to the few who wait to enter the supermarket on the ground floor of the building. A small group makes its way through the main hall, where a worker dozes with his arms crossed over the counter where pizzas, hamburgers and fried chicken quarters used to be served. Even though the sun is shining outside, the area is dimly lit, with no light bulbs on.
Entering the market, some customers who already know the place are launched in a race towards the few shopping carts that are in a corner. Those who do not have enough will have to settle for carrying the merchandise in their hands since they are not allowed to use their own bags and there are no small baskets to place the products. But few complain about this difficulty because they know that they buy little, just a couple of goods that fit in their hands.
In front of them, the shelves, without signaling, store rows of the same product. In one area, bags of more than a kilogram of gelatin are piled up, while in another the scene is repeated but with instant creams in a format designed more for a restaurant than for a home. “Isn’t there tomato puree?” several of the customers ask anxiously. “He hasn’t been in for a while,” replies an employee who doesn’t even stop to say the phrase.
“Isn’t there tomato puree?” several of the customers ask anxiously. “He hasn’t been in for a while,” replies an employee
In the butcher shop, the listless face of another worker is repeated, who leans against a glass display case where there are only a few pieces of butter in bulk and a package of bacon that seems to have been in the same place for weeks. The rest of the display freezers are empty except for a few tubes of “mechanically ground turkey” that no one dares bring.
Access to the beverage aisle has been partially blocked with two huge cardboard boxes and thin steel bars on the floor that prevent the shopping cart from passing through. “Yesterday three guys got in here and stole several bottles,” says an employee when customers complain about the obstacles between them and the bottles of rum, vodka or wine. The star merchandise that everyone is looking for to alleviate the heat of this September is conspicuous by its absence. “We haven’t had beer for months,” says the same worker, and a couple opts for a Rioja that will make them break a sweat in this torrid summer.
In addition to the shortage of supplies in the butcher shop, there is no type of pasta for sale, nor canned meat products and, when it comes to fish, there are only a few tuna options. Soft drinks, malts and most of the spices that are most used in Cuban recipes are also missing. If someone arrives looking for vegetable oil, they will have to settle for a bottle of extra virgin olive oil that exceeds 15 MLC.
Bread and cookies, whether savory or sweet, have not been seen for weeks in La Puntilla, where many dairy products have also disappeared. The question about cheese or yoghurt provokes a pout of astonishment among the employees who simply shake their heads. Rice, beans and flour have given way to sacks of green split peas and canned lentils. The prices of both legumes scare away the curious who come by.
In less than ten minutes the whole place is covered, without surprises or frustrations since the expectations when entering were low. Although the stores in MLC were initially advertised as markets for “high-end” products, they fall far short of any small-town store in Central America in product variety. Compared to the local shortages in Cuban pesos, they may seem stocked with merchandise, but that mirage lasts until the threshold of these markets is crossed.
The question about cheese or yoghurt provokes a pout of astonishment among the employees who simply shake their heads. Rice, beans and flour have given way to sacks of green split peas and canned lentils.
In silence, like someone who is benefiting from a privilege and knows it, customers line up to pay at the La Puntilla checkout. They are still not sure if they will be able to leave with the purchase in their hands because interruptions in the connection between the magnetic card reader devices and the Cuban banking system are frequent. Anxiety accompanies everyone in that wait until they arrive before the employee.
“We do not have jabitasonly this”, warns the woman and shows some tiny nylon bags that barely fit a can of preserves. Finally, a couple who have bought a package of disposable diapers for babies, a can of spicy sardines (although they clarify that they don’t like spicy but it’s the only one there) and a floor cleaner, manages to pay for the merchandise with a Visa card from a foreign bank.
The employee takes the opportunity to tell the rest of the queue that there is a shift change and that they have to wait for the replacement “to receive the box.” The couple goes to the door, relieved to have got rid of the delay, but just as they are about to leave, a voice yells at them with annoyance: “Mommy, where is the voucher? You have to show it to me!” An employee tells customers to show her the bill and while she reads the paper she enumerates what they have in their hands. “Now, you can go out now”, she warns them when she is done with the investigation.
Outside the supermarket, the dimly lit room welcomes them and the woman is tempted to go up to the second floor to look at the furniture and household items store, also selling hard currency. But the escalator does not work and with the products in their hands they will not be able to enter the premises. They decide to leave La Puntilla and the sea breeze hits them in the face as soon as they start down the stairs. On the sidewalk there is only one man standing trying to sell some blankets to clean the floor for 400 Cuban pesos. Behind them, the employee closes the door of the shopping center again, waiting for the next group to be authorized to enter.
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