Lesson 5: Fixed-Price Shop

Key Words: stationery, bargain, haggle, offer, agree on.

A. Look at the Shop and Answer the Questions.

Look at the shop and answer these questions:

1. What kinds of things do you find in the shop?
2. What are the students doing?
3. Who is the shopkeeper?

B. Read the Text and Answer the Questions.

Ms. Shahana Huda is talking to the students about a new kind of shop.

Shahana: You can buy any stationery items here like pens, pencils, notebooks, colored paper, in fact everything you need, for writing and drawing. You can also buy some food items like biscuits, buns, bananas, bottles of mineral water, and some other necessary things. You can also buy your school uniform and other clothes. There are a number of benefits of this shop. You don’t have to bargain or haggle with the shopkeeper over the prices of anything.

Sazia: What is bargain or haggle, teacher?

Shahana: Suppose you want to buy a shirt or a dress in a shop in the market. You ask, “How much is this?” The shopkeeper says, “300 taka.” But in many cases, this price is more than the real price. So you offer 200 taka or even less. The shopkeeper says, “No, I can’t sell it for 200 taka.” Then you offer 225 taka, and he may still say, “No, it’ll be a loss for me.” This process of asking for and offering more and less money is called ‘bargaining’ or ‘haggling’. It goes on until you both (buyer and seller) agree on a price, say 250 taka in this case. This price is acceptable to both of you.

Sazia: If there is no bargaining, how are we going to buy things?

Shahana: You don’t need to bargain. It will be a fixed-price shop.

Questions:

1. Do you go shopping? Where is the shop?
2. What do you usually buy?
3. Do you bargain? Why do you do that?
4. Do you know about a ‘Fixed-price’ shop? Where is it? What does it sell?