HAVANA, January 5 (María Elena Rodríguez, Cuba-Verdad) –
Some residents here complain the "Atelier" chain of dollar stores
cheats them at every turn. The chain sells foreign and domestic clothing only in
dollars, but, for starters, say some, the foreign clothing on display is
second-hand.
One man window shopping in front of Casa Max, in the Havana municipality of
10 de Octubre, claimed to have found a 10 dollar bill in a pocket of a pair of
pants he had bought there. "How could that happen," he asked, "unless
the pants were used."
"Even though the jacket is too big for me, I have to buy it because I
am cold," said Alicia Peraza outside Casa Max. The jacket was 3.95 dollars,
but she was told there was no change, so she ended up paying the full four
dollars for it. This is a common ploy, often by clerks who seek to scrape
together some change the customers leave behind.
Another customer complained that she had bought Cuban-made panties priced at
one dollar. She said that she should have been charged 20 pesos, the going
exchange rate, since, she said, "that is our currency." Comparatively
few Cubans have access to dollars.
The clothing sold by the "Atelier" chain consists mostly of
discards from abroad. The stores belonging to the chain are popularly called the
"shopping-ripped," referring both to the quality of the clothing and
to the fact that most customers feel they are being ripped-off.
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