If you would recall, I did a post about comparing price of grocery in Lagos, if you missed it click HERE. I got a comment saying that grocery was cheaper in Oke Arin Market in Lagos Island, which I concur at that time. In order not to mislead anyone, I decided to take up the Oke Arin Shopping challenge, by visiting the popular Lagos market to have a first hand shopping experience and to really see how much I can save by going to the major market.
Today being the last Saturday in August, there was environmental sanitation in Lagos State, so I had to leave home later than schedule, Once the sanitation was over, I was out of the house by 11 am, the road was so damn free, that at 11:28 am I was already parked around the popular UBA House in Marina. I hardly have anything to do on Lagos Island, so I was a bit shocked when I was told that parking is N500. Five Hundred What? Not like I'm leaving my car over night I only came here to do some grocery shopping, I negotiated N300 and it was no deal, I figured I had no choice than to agree to pay N500 before I was allowed to step out of the car.
Next, I had to call my arranged Alabaaru (people who help in carrying the goods you buy in the market), as it was my first time of going to Oke Arin in a very long time, I needed a Chaperon to take me round the market for easy navigation, so my friend who is a regular Oke Arin Shopaholic, arranged the Alabaaru for me. Iya Ibeji is my Alabaaru/Chaperon for the day, we met at about 11.55 am, and the journey to grocery savings began, or so I thought.
As we walked into Oke Arin Market, I could tell that I was in for an adventurous day, with everyone chanting Iya beji's name from all angles, I could tell she was one popular face among the sellers and her co-alabaaru, she took me to the first store, and said aunty go in there, that's where you friend buys imported groundnut oil. I entered while she waited outside talking to other sellers. Inside this store, I completely forgot I was inside Oke Arin, through out my duration in the store, they sell mostly imported grocery, if you want your yogurt, chocolate pasta,vegetable oil and all the Gerber baby food product there is,this is where to visit, because they sell in bulk. Just imagine everything in a Walmart or a Tesco store all stocked in one or two aisles. No where for shoppers to pass, and no shopping basket either, but if you stand in one corner and look around, you know that they have nice things. So for the lack of space, I was discouraged from staying too long in that store, I got just 3 or 4 items and I was out. The positive thing about this store called the Prime Grocers (which I later found out through the receipt they gave me, yes! you read it I got my first and last receipt from my first purchase at Oke Arin market), is that they sell in bulk, so if you are doing retail shopping, you might not be saving anything by coming to shop here.
Iya Beji and I continued our shopping from stall to stall, corner to corner,looking for the best bargain, which was very hard to find, did I tell you I went armed with my last receipt from the neighborhood grocery shopping, oh yes I did, because the reason for this trip was to save cost. By now, the sun was out in all its glory, and I realized it was already 1.25pm and we had only done half of the grocery because apart from not finding any reasonable bargain, some of the market women are just crooks. Imagine I got to a stall, and I bought Milo,Sardine, Noodles and Frosties Kellogs Cornflakes, next thing I noticed was the woman selling to me, trying to hide the Frosties, claiming she didn't want her co-market friend to know she had Frosties, at that point I was like hold on one minute, can I see the expiry on that Frosties, and she handed it over to me, to confirm my suspicion, the Cornflakes was expiring in 1 Month time. At this point, I was about giving up on this challenge, but I had to go on, because I was 60 percent into it already, I rejected the Cornflakes, and she said, Aunty that is what is in the market, that's what everyone is selling, I stood my ground and paid for other stuff I bought and left her stall. I later found another one with 2017 expiring in Bobo Ibo's stall.
By this time, I was already worn out , but I still needed to get other things on my list and Iya Beji said we had to go down down to where they sell toiletries. When we got there, my Harpic Liquid toilet Wash, that I know the price very well, was selling for N90 extra, I said well done, and there were alot of them so it was hard to differentiate original from fake by looking at the packaging alone, At this point, I told Iya Beji I was done with the market that I will go and buy the remaining things in my area. We left for the Abattoir to buy fresh Goat Meat and Cow Meat, I must say this was the only high point of this trip for me. As I honestly didn't save any significant amount like I had envisaged. But the freshness of the meat was the pat on the back, more like the consolation I needed.
My Judgement about Oke Arin market is that, not everything they sell is cheaper than buying from your Neighborhood Store, some things were obviously cheaper in Oke Arin market( by cheaper i mean N50 to N100 less),while some are far cheaper in my neighborhood Store. In my Neighborhood Store parking is free, and you don't need an Alabaaru because they have shopping carts, so you don't get charged for using the shopping cart, and the boys at the Neighborhood Store might help you with your grocery to the car if you did alot of shopping, for which you may, either tip them or tell them thank you.
By the time we got to the car, it was almost 2.05pm, and Iya Beji demanded for
a N2k fee, I was surprised and thought that was an outrageous demand, because my friend had told me to pay N500 as that is what they charge on the average, although I ended up not paying N2k but I paid way more than N500.
Will I ever go back to Oke Arin market for grocery? That's never going to happen again, Because, you can not get all you need in one place, and the cost you are cutting is not significant at all. The sun and the mammoth crowd in the market is not one I would like to experience again.
So that is my Oke Arin Market Challenge, and I nominate you all to go and try it out too. Make sure you look for Iya Beji when you are there.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
 |
| Oke Arin Market |
Today being the last Saturday in August, there was environmental sanitation in Lagos State, so I had to leave home later than schedule, Once the sanitation was over, I was out of the house by 11 am, the road was so damn free, that at 11:28 am I was already parked around the popular UBA House in Marina. I hardly have anything to do on Lagos Island, so I was a bit shocked when I was told that parking is N500. Five Hundred What? Not like I'm leaving my car over night I only came here to do some grocery shopping, I negotiated N300 and it was no deal, I figured I had no choice than to agree to pay N500 before I was allowed to step out of the car.
Next, I had to call my arranged Alabaaru (people who help in carrying the goods you buy in the market), as it was my first time of going to Oke Arin in a very long time, I needed a Chaperon to take me round the market for easy navigation, so my friend who is a regular Oke Arin Shopaholic, arranged the Alabaaru for me. Iya Ibeji is my Alabaaru/Chaperon for the day, we met at about 11.55 am, and the journey to grocery savings began, or so I thought.
As we walked into Oke Arin Market, I could tell that I was in for an adventurous day, with everyone chanting Iya beji's name from all angles, I could tell she was one popular face among the sellers and her co-alabaaru, she took me to the first store, and said aunty go in there, that's where you friend buys imported groundnut oil. I entered while she waited outside talking to other sellers. Inside this store, I completely forgot I was inside Oke Arin, through out my duration in the store, they sell mostly imported grocery, if you want your yogurt, chocolate pasta,vegetable oil and all the Gerber baby food product there is,this is where to visit, because they sell in bulk. Just imagine everything in a Walmart or a Tesco store all stocked in one or two aisles. No where for shoppers to pass, and no shopping basket either, but if you stand in one corner and look around, you know that they have nice things. So for the lack of space, I was discouraged from staying too long in that store, I got just 3 or 4 items and I was out. The positive thing about this store called the Prime Grocers (which I later found out through the receipt they gave me, yes! you read it I got my first and last receipt from my first purchase at Oke Arin market), is that they sell in bulk, so if you are doing retail shopping, you might not be saving anything by coming to shop here.
Iya Beji and I continued our shopping from stall to stall, corner to corner,looking for the best bargain, which was very hard to find, did I tell you I went armed with my last receipt from the neighborhood grocery shopping, oh yes I did, because the reason for this trip was to save cost. By now, the sun was out in all its glory, and I realized it was already 1.25pm and we had only done half of the grocery because apart from not finding any reasonable bargain, some of the market women are just crooks. Imagine I got to a stall, and I bought Milo,Sardine, Noodles and Frosties Kellogs Cornflakes, next thing I noticed was the woman selling to me, trying to hide the Frosties, claiming she didn't want her co-market friend to know she had Frosties, at that point I was like hold on one minute, can I see the expiry on that Frosties, and she handed it over to me, to confirm my suspicion, the Cornflakes was expiring in 1 Month time. At this point, I was about giving up on this challenge, but I had to go on, because I was 60 percent into it already, I rejected the Cornflakes, and she said, Aunty that is what is in the market, that's what everyone is selling, I stood my ground and paid for other stuff I bought and left her stall. I later found another one with 2017 expiring in Bobo Ibo's stall.
By this time, I was already worn out , but I still needed to get other things on my list and Iya Beji said we had to go down down to where they sell toiletries. When we got there, my Harpic Liquid toilet Wash, that I know the price very well, was selling for N90 extra, I said well done, and there were alot of them so it was hard to differentiate original from fake by looking at the packaging alone, At this point, I told Iya Beji I was done with the market that I will go and buy the remaining things in my area. We left for the Abattoir to buy fresh Goat Meat and Cow Meat, I must say this was the only high point of this trip for me. As I honestly didn't save any significant amount like I had envisaged. But the freshness of the meat was the pat on the back, more like the consolation I needed.
My Judgement about Oke Arin market is that, not everything they sell is cheaper than buying from your Neighborhood Store, some things were obviously cheaper in Oke Arin market( by cheaper i mean N50 to N100 less),while some are far cheaper in my neighborhood Store. In my Neighborhood Store parking is free, and you don't need an Alabaaru because they have shopping carts, so you don't get charged for using the shopping cart, and the boys at the Neighborhood Store might help you with your grocery to the car if you did alot of shopping, for which you may, either tip them or tell them thank you.
By the time we got to the car, it was almost 2.05pm, and Iya Beji demanded for
a N2k fee, I was surprised and thought that was an outrageous demand, because my friend had told me to pay N500 as that is what they charge on the average, although I ended up not paying N2k but I paid way more than N500.
Will I ever go back to Oke Arin market for grocery? That's never going to happen again, Because, you can not get all you need in one place, and the cost you are cutting is not significant at all. The sun and the mammoth crowd in the market is not one I would like to experience again.
So that is my Oke Arin Market Challenge, and I nominate you all to go and try it out too. Make sure you look for Iya Beji when you are there.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Do you know that they actually clean off expiry dates and print new ones on the container? This done almost everywhere......and do you also know that your neighbourhood grocery stores also buy from oke aarin? I prefer to buy from the big retails chains or any stores that I think might import these items themselves. ..I am not really interested in the price . I just need comfort that the store is quite reputable and regards ethics
ReplyDeleteTolu u can say that again. They clean expiry and it takes an fbi to decode this.
DeleteYou write so well. I felt like I was there with you. You should have added pictures though.
ReplyDeleteThanks Miss A...I was too exhausted to take pictures.One trailer that came to deliver goods kept us all on stand still in one position for a long time until they were able to clear the road for him.
ReplyDelete