Han-oo-ee-ot חנויות

Let me tell you about one of the great awsomesses of living in the "Old world": it is all the little stores or "han-oo-ee-ot" in Hebrew. They are the environmentalist's/too-poor-to-own-a-car-ist's dream.

In Edmonton, I could not go to the hardware store for the five months of the year where ice and snow kept me off my bicycle. Many a small repairs were left for months because buying the right sized nut was going to be a multi hour journey or 25$ worth of cab rides. The hardware store was a giant Home Depot about 5 km away with a bus route that ran only once an hour, on weekdays, and only during the full moon. Edmonton is a city for drivers and it was one of the few things that I truly disliked about my lovely Edmonton.

In Jerusalem, the mom and pop store reigns supreme. All shopping seems like boutique shopping. I have described the fabric stores before, and finally took a couple of pics-from the hip this morning. (FYI, I finally happened across a notions store and the source of needles and thread along with every possible kind of button and ribbon). But all the stores are like this. Housewares, hardware, socks and bras, toys, hats, electronics, each have their own little enclaves, and yes, there are entire stores dedicated to kippas.

Because these stores are small there are many dotting the city. Tiny, crowded and jumbled, these stores are best described by the phrase "Everything, there is. Selection, there is not." You will find the right kind of screwdriver there, and perhaps a half decent one to boot, but you won't find it in three different brand names in six different colours. For my purposes, these stores are great. I can access them in my neighbourhood year round, the prices are usually pretty fair, and I never feel like I am making journey worthy of an epic poem for a O-ring for a leaky U-trap.

I bought James' b-day present, a radio, at an electronics ha-noot that had no more than 20 square feet of open floor space. As I was looking at the radios, the lady asked me what I was looking for and I said "Radio katan" (small radio) "Rak radio simplisti" (only a simple radio). She shooed me away from the CD/tape/radio ones on display and pulled out the perfect specimen for our kitchen. She asked such a very reasonable price that I only haggled out of respect for the art. With simple questions and broken Hebrew from me, she wanted to know how long I was in J-town for, what I was studying at the university, where I was from, if I was studying Hebrew at an ulpan.... All very friendly. Service! Who knew such a thing still existed!

All hail the hanoiot!