No one in our family goes shopping as often as my mother does. She keeps house, so she knows better than anyone of us what we are running short of.
From time to time my father goes and does some shopping too. Most often he goes for fruits, vegetables, fresh greens or fish to the district's market. Usually, he has a shopping list written by my mother with him.
The prices in our district's market are generally lower than in the state-owned or private shops, but the quality of goods is not always better. If the price doesn't suit you, you can argue about it with the seller and ask for a cut.
My duty is to buy bread for the family. So each time we are running out of bread, I take a shopping bag and money and hurry to the nearest bakery.
When we want to buy food we go to the food store, where you can find almost everything you want, or to some specialized provision shops.
The grocer sells a variety of foodstuffs, such as flour, butter, eggs, biscuits, jams and jellies, cheese, sugar, spice, tinned and frozen foods.
The greengrocer deals in fruit and vegetables.
The florist sells flowers and plants.
We go to the fishmonger for fish. We go to the butcher's to buy some kinds of meat; pork, veal, mutton or beef and we can buy some poultry there as well: chickens, geese or turkeys.
A milk shop is called a dairy. There we buy dairy products: milk, butter, cheese, sour cream, curds and eggs.
When we run out of bread we go to the baker's and ask for a loaf of white or brown bread.
A cake shop sells pastries and cakes of all kinds.
The confectioner always does a good trade selling sweets, chocolates, chocolate bars and other tempting things that make every child's mouth water.
Many large shops called department stores sell various goods under one roof and you can find there everything you need and that is on offer at small specialized shops scattered all around the town;
Department stores have a lot of departments: stationary, hosiery, millinery, footwear, sport goods, leather goods, perfumery, jewellery, ready-made women's and men's clothes and so on. All the things are on the counters and in the shopwindows so the customers can choose what they want.
At the stationary we buy paper, ink, pens, ball-pens, pencils, erasers and felt-tip pens.
In the millinery we buy hats, caps, fur caps and fur collars.
In the shoe or footwear department there are many kinds of shoes, boots, sandals, slippers and top-boots.
In the knitwear department we can find all kinds of knitted goods: pullovers, sweaters, cardigans, etc.
If we want new gloves or ties, handkerchiefs or shirts we go to the men's outfitter's.
In the men's clothing department we can find overcoats, shirts, trousers, pyjamas and other clothing for men.
In the women's clothing department we can choose coats, jackets, dresses, costumes, jumpers, blouses, skirts, underwear and many other things for women.
In the perfumery they have face cream and face powders, lipsticks, scents, lotions and shampoos.
A big store is really a very interesting place. We can simply walk round the store without buying anything at all.