Shopping in Israel

I'm not a good shopper. My wife would rather hear scraping fingernails on a chalkboard than shop with me. I'm impatient and demanding. I usually know what I need, go in to the store, purchase it and leave. I do not poke.

Israel is different. Shopping is a social experience. Small businesses support this culture...you arrive and the staff offers you coffee. You discuss family, politics, and laugh. No one is in any particular hurry. Except me. I have 6 days to be prepared for 400 people.

Hezy and I were accompanied by Lev, who is a small business owner in Ashkelon. He creates fiberglass molds of animals and other creatures and builds furniture. He was also in the Israeli playground business for many years, knows the standards, and was there to help us. He is from Russia, and speaks only a little English. But it is much better than my Hebrew.

Our first stop was the lumber yard. Here, it was very organized. Bois had our order stacked and banded, ready to load. When I asked when he could deliver, he said right now. I was hopeful. So far, "right now" in Israel has a range of immediately to 3 or 4 hours...It's a crap shoot. In this case, after they had me check the lumber, they loaded it and sent it on the way. A good start, I thought.

Our second stop was the tool rental shop. Here, it took the better part of an hour to rent a generator, a few electric drills and saws, and other small tools. I had a difficult time adjusting to the way business is conducted here- I knew everyone else was waiting for me at the hotel or the site, plus they were walking because I had our vehicle.

Tools loaded, we were off to the fastener store, another small business. First, a stop at a cafe for an expresso and snack. Drive-through is unheard of here. You want a coffee, you go in and sit. The coffee is very good here. Strong, but good. Strong is desired by me because I'm wrecked from the jet lag. Oy!

The fastener shop was a little more prepared for us and had our order all boxed up. We changed out a few items, loaded the van and headed back to the site.

A quick word about the shops. The location is definately a commercial zone. Old warehouses and shops, constructed mainly of concrete and brick with steel roofs. There are what we might call Israeli strip malls - with 5 or 6 stores paritioned off within one larger building. The parking lots are very small, and customers park in all different configurations. Some parallel park, others pull in, and some even park at angles. It's very confusing.

Customers are constantly in an out of the shops, speaking loudly in Hebrew and Arabic. Many of the workers are from Russia, so this is another language frequently heard here. The shops themselves are only slightly organized. There are some items on the shelves, but many, many more just located on the floor or crammed into small storage areas. Space seems to be a valuable commodity here.

I think if I had more time, I would have enjoyed this much, much more.

Joe