Shopping in Portugal

While on a recent visit to Portugal, my wife and I used a family owned convenience store that operates under the Horizonte fascia several times.

Our first visit was just before 9 pm after we arrived late in Porto with no luggage. They were able to provide our immediate essentials and a very decent red wine for just €2.75.

There are of course interesting differences to UK convenience stores as well as similarities. These photographs reveal a store that appears to lack the refinement that good symbol stores have in our market, but the owner uses scanning so they are not backwards in the way they operate their store.

A noticeable difference with community-based convenience stores is that they tend to cater for a much smaller catchment than in the UK. There are two other family owned stores on the same residential street as this one as well as two cafes.

The way milk is sold is an indicator of a different culture and hotter climate, with it being predominantly UHT milk.