Queues everywhere. What's happening in supermarkets on New Year's Eve
On the eve of the last day of 2025, Onliner.by journalists went to check out the situation in one of Minsk's supermarkets — they assessed the length of queues, looked into grocery carts, and got a sense of prices and spending scales.
December 30, four in the afternoon — this time creates a false impression of "I'll manage to do my shopping while people are at work." A second illusion is created by the deserted Christmas tree market at the entrance. But everything changes once you step over the threshold of the supermarket. All the main "hustle and bustle" is here, inside. The number of shoppers exceeds a hundred, and it seems that to set the table, you'll have to spend three hours here (but, running ahead, let's note: this is also an illusion).
People with semi-empty baskets examine New Year's socks, buying last-minute Christmas tree decorations. A tired woman can't stand it and, pausing for a moment, sips fruit juice.
Islands with key products are spread across the hall: drinks, peas, corn, tartlets. Nearby, a display of ready-made salads is temporarily located — from Olivier and Vinaigrette to Pomegranate salad.
"I thought I'd grab something to eat now" — an overheard phrase reminds us: there are at least nine working hours left until the end of the year.
In the red fish section, the queue is situational: sometimes five people, sometimes no one. A woman walks away from the counter, carefully wrapping a package with a quarter of a trout. Another woman buys a kilogram of set for fish soup. Large carp carcasses are laid out on the ice — one such will weigh a kilogram and a half.
A few steps aside — and a view opens up to the longest queue — to the culinary department. In several carts, an attempt to save time on preparing salads is noticeable: boiled beets, potatoes, and carrots. One of the carts stands out: it contains three baguettes. But half an hour later, this record will be broken by a cart encountered at the checkout, filled to the brim only with bread.
Increased demand is observed near the shelf with red fish in vacuum packs and near containers with mandarins — people are grabbing them in a rush. As we move between these points, we note bright details from shopping carts: four yogurts, a strategic supply of cat food, a stick of boiled sausage on top of a pile of products, and a Rubik's Cube.
In the fruit and vegetable section, there's no room to drop an apple, but sometimes something falls out of shoppers' baskets. "Accidents" involving carts are not uncommon, nor are "speed limit" violations by shoppers. Interestingly, nobody steals unattended, fully loaded carts.
Minsk resident Marina has done 99% of her shopping, but she's missing one key ingredient.
— I'm going to make tartar for the second time in my life. Beef is hard to find, and this is already the third store. Otherwise, I'm all set. In terms of price, the cart will now be about 300 rubles.
Pineapple vies for the title of the main fruit of the festive night, while cherry tomatoes compete for shoppers' attention with the inscription "Honey." A closer look reveals: it's not a flavor description, but a brand name. Large Greek strawberries are noticed on the counter — the berries are greenish, and the price for a summer mood in December is 42.65 rubles per kilogram.
Two men approach, whose purchases contrast sharply: the younger man has "Shine Muscat" Chinese grapes and pistachios in his cart, while the man about 20 years older has neither a cart nor a basket — just a whole chicken.
Exactly a year ago in this same store, the sausage department was quite crowded, but now it's rather calm. Long queues don't build up, despite people occasionally asking for slicing services. Another comparative observation: a year ago there was less turkey on the shelves, but now it's available as fillet, as sausage, and from various manufacturers.
Paper lists with crossed-out words like "peas" and "mayonnaise" seem to be fewer in the hands of Belarusians. Instead, there are more people navigating between other carts, consulting their phones. For example, one man's "wish list" for the New Year's table is quite a long message in a messenger app.
In the rush and variety of products, the work of the salespeople goes unnoticed. With precise and practiced movements, they repeat the same operations hundreds of times: measure, weigh, print a receipt. Queues appear in waves, and if there are five to seven people in one, it dissolves quite quickly into the crowd. This is one reason why the initial impression of "I'll have to spend three hours walking around here" turns out to be wrong.
The second reason is that products occupy about half of the sales floor, which means you don't have to walk around the entire area. At the end, as an experiment, we go to an electronic checkout and start a stopwatch — our turn to pay comes in five minutes.
Over these days, we've noted these ways to save time on organizing the New Year's table:
- Go to the store during a less popular time slot.
- Buy vegetables and "basic" products at a neighborhood store.
- Choose packaged vegetables and sausages — that way, you'll avoid one queue for weighing.
- Group items on your shopping list by department to save time moving between them.
- Use self-service checkouts — the queue there definitely moves faster.
- Take advantage of supermarket delivery.
Near the checkout, Olga agrees to chat.
— We'll have Olivier, Herring Under a Fur Coat, herring, cutlets, meat, fruit on the table — everything everyone loves. We live in the Emirates, our relatives are here. It's hard to imagine how much it will cost, I'm not very good at prices anymore.
Nearby, in Viktor's basket, are the final touches for the New Year's table — ingredients for Olivier salad.
— Today I only have ingredients for Olivier, the rest is already bought. There will be cold cuts, several salads, herring under a fur coat. I've already spent about 500 rubles.
On the other side of the checkouts, with an already paid basket, we meet Alexander.
— The receipt was for 160 rubles: I bought a baguette for sandwiches, fruit for the table, non-alcoholic beer, various cakes, herring, pineapple, cheese. This is a great store, everything's super, but the mandarins are just awful. This is already the third, pre-final shopping trip — I'll go look for them tomorrow after work.
Also escaping from the checkout area with her loot is Elena.
— We were 0% ready, but now we're prepared. Traditionally, there will be peas, "fur coat" salad, definitely meat — new recipes. The receipt was for 339 rubles. We'll still buy small things, but that will be tomorrow.