Grocery shopping in Togo

Before we came to Togo we were not sure what to expect in terms of grocery shopping options.

Since we had been to Uganda before we assumed there would be some similarities. There would be a few shopping malls, supermarkets and roadside stalls. Well after doing a little reserach we found out there were no shopping malls. And the largest supermarket was, at the time of our arrival in 2011, the size of a small-town grocery store. Supermarché le Champion stocked food stuffs as well as TVs, freezer chests, a few home appliances and a surprisingly thorough selection of Belgian beer. Most of which had gone bad, unfortunately.

The alternative is Ramco, which has one large store downtown and several satellite locations including one in la Caisse, within walking distance from our home. Given the proximity, the small Ramco became the go-to shop, despite having a very, very limited selection of quite expensive food stuffs in their 5 aisles. But they made up for it by having the very best (and safest) selection of cold cuts, meat and cheese.

Since Togo was a French colony, the cheese, meat and wine were all delicious and somewhat reasonably priced. Ramco stocked some salami's I had to google to figure out which small rural valley in France it came from. Tasty, tasty.

Because it was so close to home, we could walk to get our deli goods fresh as needed.  

Occasionally there would be shortages of deli supplies, but most often the shortages applied to non-perishable food stuffs, which would be hoarded by people like us.

Maple syrup -- 100% Quebec -- was cheaper than in Canada and flew off the shelves. I think we bought 6 jars.

Special varieties of soda, like root beer, were bought by the shopping cart full and carefully rationed. It may be 6 months, if ever, before it would re-appear in the grocery store.

There was also a small (think corner store sized) shop downtown, Citimart, which stocked food imported from America. Flats of soda, the ones which say not for individual resale, were parted out and sold for 350 CFA ($.72) per can.  But for Dr. Pepper and A&W Root Beer, it was worth it. They also stocked Betty Crocker brownie mix, Oreos and American toiletry products.

Prices do vary between stores, so some planning is required to get the best deals. For example, pasta and tomato paste were cheaper at Champion, while Concorde supermarket in Klikame had the best prices on instant oatmeal, juice and coffee.

In early 2013, the landscape of grocery stores changed again when Supermarché le Champion expanded. Already quite expensive, they jacked their prices again, but we went anyways because now they had all the home appliances we only dreamed of having. Immersion blenders, electric coffee grinders, espresso makers and waffle makers could all be had. (Up till this point, we had to shop for these things at Game in Accra or order them off Amazon.)

They also expanded their wine cellar and began stocking frozen foods and microwave meals, definitely a sign of a middle class!

Lastly, while most every local fresh vegetable and fruit can be found at your local street vendor we have found that the Mytro Nunya cultural centre offers a very tasty organic fresh basket with a good variety of fruits and veggies delivered to your door.