Supermarket
Contrary to most people, I really do not enjoy shopping. If I need to buy something, I go in, get it, and leave. If I have to accompany someone to a clothing store, it will only be a few minutes until my “limit” is reached. However, as I mentioned before on the blog, for some reason I find it very exciting to go to the supermarket. Yes, I am unusual… what else is new 
Yesterday M and I went to the brand new Pavi supermarket in Ħal Qormi. It opened very recently and we thought we would try it. Well, it was great! It has wide aisles and a tall ceiling, and everything is new and brightly lit. Believe it or not, we actually spent TWO HOURS going through every single aisle to see what sorts of things they had. I do not mean to become an advertising blog, but the prices were a little lower than in other places, which really added up (or should I say, down) when the final bill was totaled.
The prices there are already displayed in both liri and euros, and I did what I am now doing every time I come across that: I took out my mobile and calculated to see if the exchange rate was correct. For once, it was! I think this is the very first store I have found that actually uses the correct rate, so you can actually start getting a feel for what the prices of individual items will be once the new currency comes in.
I do not think I have mentioned that in many Maltese supermarkets, you have to use a coin in order to use a trolley (shopping cart). It remains stuck inside a little box on the trolley’s handle, and it can only be released when you bring it back to its place. Well, this in this new supermarket they are already planning ahead so their trolleys require a 1 euro coin! Their customer service desk exchanges it for you, requesting the correct Lm0.43 for €1. So this represented my first official “use” of the euro in Malta! I have saved the coin, and can now use it the next time we go to buy food… or perhaps if I travel to one of the eurozone countries. Very exciting indeed!
Don’t let the big supermarket drive out all of the little mom and pop shops and street vendors! Sure they may be a little cheaper and more products but you can’t always put a price on the customer service you get from a little guy. Hey if you were short 10 cents would the big supermarket let you pay it back another time?
Well, we do go to the local small shops to buy fruits, bread and all the little things during the week. The supermarket is more for the big weekly shopping trip.
PAVI Supermarket Supervisor this morning told me to take my custom elsewhere after I complained that waiting for over ten minutes in the queue at the cash counter whilst a cashier and two members of staff and the supervisor himself tried unsuccessfully to establish the price of a particular item was not acceptable. I, and other customers who overheard, will certainly take up the PAVI supermarket supervisor advice!
To whom it may concern
I am an English woman who has lived in Malta for many many years, I have managed quite comfortably but have always enjoyed going home to the comfort of large Supermarkets such as Tescos and Sainsburys. Now what a wonderful find I have discovered Malta’s newest Supermarket Pavi and must say it was a pleasure to shop before Christmas, after Christmas and now in the New Year. My family who came to spend Christmas in Malta remarked how wonderful the supermarket was indeed my son in law thought it better than (xxxx) I will not name in the UK one of the largest!!!!! I had one complaint that the isles should be kept free of goods for both trollies to pass one another - low and behold on visiting recently found they had been cleared so everything was perfect. Please, please keep up the wonderful service of variety of brands of goods and the very helpful staff, thank you I know we need the small shops in the villages, but we desperately need this type of supermarket, where all is on one floor, parking is wonderful with wide parking bays and everything is at your finger tips. THANK YOU WHO EVER IS INVOLVED WITH PAVI AND LONG MAY YOU REIGN.
A VERY GRATEFUL CUSTOMER
V. ROBBIE
always any thing in malta will be good and sweet and always the people in malta nice people
i come to malta every week for shoping from this supermarket