the local corner store

On many streets you will find a small building called an ntemba (corner store). Here you can buy talk time, sweets, long-life milk, squash (concentrated juice), Boom laundry soap and so on.

This is an example of one of the ntembas found in a compound in Ndola.


The small bags hanging from the ceiling sell Boom (the blue bags) and sugar (the light brown packages), and the bottles on the table contain kerosene for burning in lamps as most of the homes in the compounds do not have electricity.


Many things in Zambia are sold in piles including sand, rocks, charcoal, fish, fruit and vegetables. You don’t pick from a pile, when you buy something, you buy the entire pile. This ntemba is selling charcoal and kapenta in piles.