Having a Baqala — grocery — in your locality is considered highly useful in so many ways. Similar to a school, a post office or a restaurant; a Baqala makes a community around it an attractive place to live. It also becomes a social place where you run into your neighbors for a quick chat and for the newcomers to introduce themselves. We note that one never fails to catch up on the local happenings with the man at the counter. It is really amazing that they are very well informed and what they tell you, in most cases, is accurate.
Once at beginning of excavation of the streets in our locality, I asked the cashier of a nearby Baqala, as to what was going on. He promptly replied: “Sir! They are going to lay fiber optic cable for Internet connection.” The following day, I cross-checked with one of the supervisors at the worksite, who confirmed the information I had received from the Baqala’s cashier. One may not know the names of those who serve you in a supermarket, no matter how frequent one may visit that place. But most of the time one knows the Baqala guy and he also has enough information about you — your name, nationality, your work place etc. These are just some of the reasons as to why the local grocery is a crucial part of any community. — S.H. Moulana, Riyadh
Importance of grocery stores
