City residents jam CBD for last minute Christmas shopping – PHOTOS
Downtown Nairobi was a beehive of activity on Sunday as Nairobians made last-minute shopping to stock up on goodies on the eve of the holiday.
Along Tom Mboya Street in the heart of the capital’s central business district, men women and children, most of them carrying giant bags on their backs, wove through the streets finding supermarkets, their last stop before boarding a vehicle that would take them to their relatives for the Christmas festivities.
In supermarkets along that street, the luggage section had extended into the shopping area as similar looking bags, some locked with tiny padlocks, were strewn all over the floors.
Everyone inside was pushing a shopping cart or lugging around a basket heaped high with packets of wheat flour, sugar and rice.
LONG QUEUES
The queues to the counters had snaked their way in between the aisles. Only the express counters seemed to be moving.
Outside, hawkers were making the most of the last minute shoppers, having spread their wares on any available space on the pavement and calling out to potential customers.
The majority of them were selling clothes starting from Sh 50 per item. Interested people hovered around them, trying on their picks for size.
A conversation between two sellers uncovered that they wanted to sell all their stock so that they too could wrap up their business and close for the holidays as well.
MANY PASSENGERS
Matatus plying the Kiambu route lined up on the road in anticipation of the many passengers that would have to be ferried to their various destinations.
Other vehicles around the Khoja Mosque bus stop were packing people and their belongings, ready to take off to Limuru and its environs.
Other sides of town painted a very different picture. Life is less chaotic on Moi Avenue and even slower around Kimathi Street and beyond.