HAVANA, June 11 (Manuel David Orrio, CPI) - Officials at the Ministry of
Internal Commerce said that Cubans bought more than one million appliances at
dollar stores last year. Eighty percent of those sales were registered in
Havana.
Anticipating the heat of summer, Cubans have made electric fans the hot,
that is to say, cool, items at the stores in June. They sold out at the Ultra
store at the beginning of the month, and in other popular dollar establishments,
such as Plaza de Carlos III, La Época, and 5th Avenue and 42, only the
most expensive models are still in stock; all the lower priced fans have long
since been swept off the shelves.
The fans, selling for between 20 and 40 dollars, would seem to be beyond the
means of Cubans earning, on average, the equivalent of 12 dollars a month. The
purchase price, in most cases, can be accounted for by remittances sent by
family or friends abroad.
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