HAVANA, March 13 (María Elena Rodríguez, Cuba-Verdad) - Government stores in Havana are selling old, used, in some cases useless, clothing brought in from foreign countries.
In "La Antigua Ferretería" (The Old Hardware Store) in the Workers' Subdivision of San Miguel del Padrón, city of Havana, there are two piles of women's clothing on the floor. Customers get to choose skirts from one pile or blouses and dresses from the other. The
merchandise can be dirty, faded, stained, frayed or missing buttons. The prices were recently reduced by two pesos due to sluggish sales; now blouses are five pesos each, skirts and dresses eight pesos.
According to customers, the better quality clothing is separated and sold at the dollar stores. One woman said: "I found a miniskirt without a zipper at the dollar store. The clerk told me that was the reason it was marked down." Another woman, holding up a collar, shoulders and long
sleeves that had once been a blouse, yelled a question: "For this you want eight pesos?" A little boy nearby piped up: "You can use it as a kitchen rag."
A young woman picked a threadbare summer blouse. In the end she didn't buy it; clerks held steadfastly that the price was eight pesos, she thought it should be five.
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