Shopping for groceries in San Sebastian
Back to our second day in Spain nearly two years ago. We're stocking up on groceries. We've unloaded our cart onto the conveyor belt and everything is going dandy. Then the checkout lady picked up our bag of potatoes an ran off with them, leaving us and a growing queue of people behinds us baffled and angry, respectively. Read on to find out what happened.
First of all, most stores, markets and supermarkets are closed on Sundays. We think this is terrific. The exceptions are little chain marts. The smaller food stores will close for lunch from about 2 pm to 4.30 pm every day.
Shopping for groceries in San Sebastian
In some of the bigger supermarkets you must weigh your own fruit and vegetables on the scales scattered around the shelves before you head to the check out. Each tray of produce has a price per kilo and its own number. Bag up your vegies and plonk them on the scale, press the corresponding number on the display, and a tag will pop out. Stick it to the bag for the checkout person to scan. The bread cabinets at the bakery have a similar system. Bag up your loaf, check the number and find the ticket machine to print the right tag.
At the checkout you’re likely to be asked two questions: Bolsa? (Do you need a bag?) and ‘blah blah blah tarjeta de blah blah blah?’ The second one is asking if you have a loyalty card.
When everything is bagged up, if you want to pay by card, say ‘tarjeta por favor’ (tar-kheta).
The self-checkouts are great – but be warned, they tend to be card only and there will be someone watching to see that you don’t exceed the limit on the number of items. You can select English on the display.
If the machine freezes up, get the attendant's attention and he or she will wave their magic card to get it working again. It happens when you scan alcohol, presumably to stop the kiddies from buying it.
The big Eroski supermarket in Easo has a gate preventing you from leaving until you scan the barcode of your receipt.
Fresh markets
Some (but not all) vendors are very picky about you touching their stuff. Don’t pick up any of the food unless you see others doing it; if the shop has carry baskets then of course it’s okay. Most of them provide disposable gloves for testing fruit ripeness.
At the more finicky stalls, point at what you want and the attendant will grab it for you. In yet others, you can pick up your own, then hand it to the attendant for weighing. Just watch what the other customers do.
Looking for Asian?
You're in luck. There's a large Chinese-run market in Gros called Coviran. It's one of the few places you'll find stuff like fresh chilies and coconut milk.
Check for queue tickets
Lots of butchers and fish shops have ticket machines so keep an eye out, and then prepare for ...
Don't be in a rush
Spanish people will happily ask the butcher or fishmonger to variously scale, fillet, trim, weigh, put some back, cut into bite-sized pieces, add some more, have a chat about the weather, ask for something else, change their mind, then pay in pennies that have to be fished out of a tiny purse. This is completely normal. I've come to think about it as an opportunity to practise mindfulness.
