I’m not going to lie, living without Target (or similar store) is quite an adjustment. And I haven’t even really adjusted completely yet. I’m embarrassed to admit that I spent over $500 there on a trip back to the United States last November. Although there are similar big box stores for home improvement, clothes, and sporting equipment (Leroy Merlin, H&M, Decathlon), there really is not a store like Target for all the home essentials here in Italy. There are large supermarkets, like the IperCoop, with a fair amount of non-food items, but the depth and breadth of the selection are not even close. Even more interesting is that even if there was a Target here, it’s not really the way in which Italians do their shopping. They prefer to do their shopping at small stores within their villages or cities.
That is the charm of living in Italy. The products tend to be of higher quality because they are not mass-produced to be as cheap as possible and in some regards, this way of shopping can actually be quite easy and convenient. For example, the only way I have bought a lightbulb since arriving in Italy is by taking the dead lightbulb to our local hardware store and asking for a replacement. I’m sure to always go home with the correct bulb.
And the personal touch of shopping this way is a real benefit. My butcher knows what I like. When I ask for pork shoulder, he pulls out ¼ pig, slaps in on the counter, and inquires about what I am making. After understanding it’s for a soup, he cuts the best aspects of the meat for this. And then he’ll cut or grind it exactly how I need it. The shopkeepers often throw in “un regalo” (a gift), like a few extra eggs (from my egg lady who has a chicken farm just outside of Torino where her chickens lay 20 different kinds of eggs) or an extra avocado from the woman at her stand in the Porta Palazzo market who is the only one in Torino I have found that offers consistently delicious mangoes and avocados. And when I went through my sourdough bread making phase, like many of us did during quarantine, the woman at my dry goods store (which sells mainly beans, rice, and flour) was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful with all my experimentation.
But in other ways, shopping is much more difficult. The hardest thing for an outsider is that you have to find the exact small store that might have what you are looking for. For example, I need printer ink. Do I go to: a) stationary store, b) a hardware store, or c) a tabaccheria? Trick question, d) none of the above, you go to a printer ink store, of course. Then, you have to make sure they are open (most stores in Italy are open in the morning and in the evening – with a 3-4 hour break for lunch). Finally, you have to be able to ask the shop owner for what you need. And be prepared for the fact that everything is going to take longer. There’s no such thing and being in-and-out in 5 minutes (the person in front of you is paying slowly in cash and likely has asked how the cashier’s family is doing).
And what used to be one shopping visit to Whole Foods in Chicago is now a visit to the fruit & vegetable market, the butcher, the cheese shop, the dry goods store, and maybe a quick stop to the small grocery for some other items. And deciding between all new brands and reading labels in a foreign language takes some getting used to, and means more time spent at the stores.
All in all, I’ve tremendously come to appreciate this kind of shopping. I love that almost all of our food is local and organic and is a fraction of the cost as in the States. I love the personal touch and the relationships you form when you visit the same small businesses over and over again. It makes me sad to see how much Amazon has grown its presence. It really took off during the lockdown and is making it more difficult for the little shops.
But, don’t get me wrong, Target will still be one of the first places I will visit on my next trip back to the US. The impatient side of me still longs for the convenience of buying milk, printer ink, and a pillow in one easy trip.
The Avventura 