As the Christmas/New Year season hits top gear, Kitale residents are thronging the Khetia’s supermarket and other shopping centres to purchase what they need for the season and school material including books for their children ahead of the reopening of schools come January.
Khetia’s Gigamatt manager Amos Wekhanya said most customers are heading straight to the bookshelves and purchasing more
books as opposed to other commodities, including food and clothing.
He said the supermarket is ready to offer goods needed for the customers, adding that they have a sufficient stock to cater for the festive season and past that.
He said the number of customers this year has increased, compared to the past years, same to the sales, “We have witnessed an increase in the number of customers this year as opposed to last year and the sales have drastically gone up. We thank our customers for trusting us and purchasing what they need form our branch,” he said.
Customers who spoke to West Media said they have opted to purchase
books for their children in readiness for the next year’s schools’ reopening, noting hat there is no great urgency to buy basic goods to celebrate during the festive season.
“We have opted to purchase books for our children since we are aware the prices will skyrocket next year and we are also avoiding a last minute rush that normally happens in January,” said one parent, Elizabeth Njoki.
Some of the customers expressed their satisfaction with the
manner in which the supermarket is handling them, saying the prices are
affordable and some discounts are in place. Some of the goods that have reduced prices include milk and maize flour.
However, some customers said the tough economic times have rubbed off the importance of Christmas, “We aren’t able to purchase goods due to the tough lives we are leading and this Christmas we have noting to smile about since we can’t afford some goods,” said one customer.