First Post from Malta: a Retail Experience Without the Big Chains

Walking the narrow streets of Malta, I cannot help but notice a distinct lack of the usual big names in retail. In place of the Walmarts and the FamilyMarts of the world are small no-name mom-and-pop shops specializing in one type of product or the other. From Paul's selling only stationery to the hole-in-the-wall household goods stores peddling towels and plastic baskets, the little towns of this island country remain dominated by small enterprises, the kind that have long been killed off in other countries by major retail chains selling everything from A to Z.

In some ways, the near complete absence of international retail chains is justifiable. With a population just above half a million, the Maltese market is not large enough for international chains to pay attention to. Given the lack of local manufacturing, finding local suppliers is difficult for most goods. Moreover, with the island geography of the country, the freight cost of those infrequent maritime shipping to the islands also adds up to a no small amount. Add on the need for local labor, and the cost of entering the Maltese market simply does not make commercial sense given the relatively small potential revenue.

The lack of the usual everything-under-one-roof shopping experience forces new residents like me to forego the expectations of easily finding what I need, and really walk the streets. Popping into one mom-and-pop shop after another, I am compelled to ask about what exactly I need. With limited merchandise in each shop, frequently I come up empty. But the frequent failure gives me more of a reason to continue exploring and talking to shopkeepers, gauging exactly where to find what as I develop that mental map of the town's scattered retail landscape.

The local retailers themselves definitely help. More than once when I failed to find what I needed in one store, the storekeeper would point me to another store nearby where I may be able to find the items I desire. The shop owners of one neighborhood are often not in competition with one another for the limited number of customers. Rather, they are in a symbiotic relationship, with each shop relying on others for positive word-of-mouth in an "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" partnership. Their goal, without each explicitly saying so, becomes how to, together, provide everything a shopper would need.

This conversation-and-exploration-based shopping experience has its pros and cons. For those seeking the convenience of efficiently getting everything they need, the need to really search for the right places to buy what they need makes shopping in Malta rather irritating. But on the flip side, for those seeking that communal experience of talking to people and getting to know where they live, the Maltese retail experience would make shopping in a big-box store both isolating and alienating. Given that many people come to Malta to learn English, daily interactions through shopping can be helpful for language learning.

Yet, even as Malta inadvertently provides that ideal retail environment for language acquisition, it is itself shifting further away from mom-and-pop stores. On one hand, intrepid international chains like German discount retailer Lidl and French discount fashion chain Kiabi are making their way into the islands, following the trails of tens of thousands of other Europeans traveling and residing in Malta for its sunny climate and laid-back lifestyle. And as is the case elsewhere, the e-commerce revolution has hit Malta as well, with local copycats of Amazon and eBay vying for the euros of the tech-savvy.

What does this all mean for me, a transplant from the highly commercialized metropolitan Tokyo, where everything can be bought almost everywhere, both online and offline? It is a matter of a mental reset: when something is considered necessary, rather than having "let's buy it" as the default reaction, really rethink whether a substitute for that need can be found. For everything that is simply "good to have" rather than a must, it is probably not worth the effort of walking around the Maltese streets to source them. Checking the almost automated impulse of consumption will save the planet and the wallet.

But even more importantly, the inconvenience of shopping here really forces a lifestyle change. Rather than quietly picking up goods in a faceless store, shopping will be more about talking to strangers and even getting to know the neighbors, a rarity in the Japanese context. And rather than shopping for entertainment, a more non-expenditure-oriented leisure regimen may come to fruition. Thankfully, Malta, with its beautiful sea views, historical architecture, and balmy weather, has no shortage of ways to spend time aside from buying things.