After the ban on markets was introduced in Turkmenistan, owners and shop assistants of closed stores started going around Ashgabat’s residential districts with bulky bags to offer their merchandise to residents.
Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that various goods ranging from children’s clothes to home care products are being offered to inhabitants of apartment blocks. If a person asks for an item which a vendor does not have, the latter takes an order (including for groceries) and delivers it later.
Vendors can also be seen at bazaars and shopping malls in front of closed stores. If they spot a customer who is looking for something, they can take him inside, sometime from the rear entrance where stockroom is located and offer merchandise despite the fact that vendors might be held administratively liable.
This is how vendors do business in the markets of Azatlyk (formely, Tashaug market), Altyn Asyr and the shopping centre “Gulistan”.
At the same time, consumer and household goods retailers, cafes and restaurant, which are patronized by high-ranking officials, are open, as well as the shops owned by the Ministry of Textile Industry.
On 23 November, 2020 the shopping mall “15th anniversary of Independence” closed down.However, the shops located around it, in the pedestrian tunnel and near the Turkmen-Turkish bank, are still operating.The post Owners of closed stores in Ashgabat sell their merchandise by knocking on people’s doors first appeared on Chronicles of Turkmenistan.