Thank you Newtons for the public information notices around the shop.
Do not take in any outside bags, or be refused entry.
Do not eat you own food, or be charged 200 times the cost.
Do not take photos in the store, or have your camera confistcated.
Tender only the right money. (change will be paid in sweets)
Any breakages will be paid for.
Credit cards will incur a 2% handling charge.
The latest Condoms must not be put in your pocket!!! Thank you Newtons, not many people know that Is that why the population of India is booming??
Such a customer friendly environment, watched and even followed from the time you enter till the time you leave, wish they would carry the basket though.

Wonder what they would say if you put the condoms on the right place.!!!!!!

................But you still go there. The sweeties change put me off years ago. You all have the answer................Don't go. So simple.

Wally.

Only go for a bag of Ice. and a cool.

You are so right Wallydug. No excuses, we only use them if we can not get the goods elsewhere
We have never accepted sweets and they can find the change when they need to

I agree with you totally, H.D. - they always find change in the drawer below the till, so my advice is "always refuse the sweets as change".

It wouldn't be so bad if they could occasionally use a "please" or "thank you", or even manage to muster a smile now and again!

Perhaps they should adopt the "change" idea from an advert I saw on one of the movie channels last night - mobile phone recharge I think - the guy with the bog-standard phone got "sorry - no change - some notes and a couple of sweeties" - whereas the guy with the latest super-duper state-of-the-art mobile got "sorry - no change - some notes & two condoms (and a come-on from the girl serving him & I'm sure she had a Scottish / Indian accent!)- "to separate the boys from the men!!"

Pity the condoms aren't used more often.................but that's another tag......

The queues would be even longer if that was the case, imagine the pushing in....lol...scuse the pun

I totally agree with you all and what has been said.

I had some second thoughts at some times that perhaps I was making a fuss for nothing and being to overactive (sweets for change, expired dates, stupid clerks looking that you don't steal a chocolate bar etc..) since most of the people that are actually tourists don't seem to give a s..t about it.

But thanks to you guys I now know I am not alone and you have reinforced my convictions that the place has annoying practices that need to be curbed.

If possible it is cheaper to purchase from a small local shop if they have what you want - that is what we do. Often we owe them a rupee and pay next time if change is short.

To balance the whole thing (and I prefer not to use Newtons if possible) some of the locals are guilty of not charging the right price - the shop run by Sue and D'Souzas (both associated with the Highland) will round up by 1rps when it suits. At least Newtons charges you what is quoted on their price ticket (even if it is inflated) and you have the option to demand the change - which I always do, even if it means having an IOU.

I find most in Goa will try it on, one way or the other if they get the chance. You would never dream of not picking up your 1p change at home, even if you then put it in the charity tin.

Of course, that is what I do too.
Its only for some sauce, some spirits that I can't find anywhere else.

I like the folks at Luma.

To be fair, the founders and previous owners of Luma started the whole "sweets for change" thing off, but they did it with charm, smiles, humorous conversation etc. They were the first (and for a very long time, the only) proper supermarket on the whole Baga, Cal/Can strip, and made life a lot easier for long-stayers. Newtons then started across the road, and were humourless and money-grabbing from the start, closely followed by Lawande in their original location, quickly judged to be a "dump".
When Lawande moved to the new premises, still a miserable s*d, and supermarkets started springing up all over the place, the best by a million miles being Ajays at Fredville in Mapusa, the writing was on the wall. Therefore when the Mega-Newtons opened, there was an air of inevitabilty. If a certain Mr A Hitler had started a chai n of supermarkets, they would have been just like this.
But the tweekers love it..............something they knew when they spent the massive sum to build it.
Lets just hope that the tourism crash that is well under way will bankrupt them, cos the russians and domestic tourists will not keep them going.


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Actually shops started to give sweets for change when the value of the Paise coins went down in 70's -8o's; sweets to give the children were more useful than worthless coins. However in present times there is no excuse not to give Rupees change.

OK, I humbly apologise.

In the experience of most of us mere foreigners, the first experience we had of being given sweets as change was Lumar.

Up to that point, all shops - to a greater or lesser degree, were local shops, ie Indian, and from our first stay circa 1993, no-one tried to give us sweets for change until Lumar.........and they became famous for it. Some "foreigners" even saved up their sweets and took them back to Lumar in the equivalent of rs100 units to pay for shopping.

Never have I been given sweets in Panjim, Mapusa, Siolim, or anywhere other than the rip-off emporia of the coastal strip, over a period of 17 years without a break............any thoughts on that?


Oh, heres a thought, they were the only places to be inundated with kindly, gullible, white tourists, who probably found it QUAINT?

Theiving sh*ts.

I agree with Johnny 5 - Ajay's is one of the best "supermarkets" (mini market or whatever) around. But you need time to browse around and acquaint yourself with where things are. At least you're not followed around by girls with accusing eyes, as in Newtons or Lawande (God, I hate that shop with a vengeance!!!)

Try Ajay's for their sliced cooked meats (OK it's frozen, but better than some on offer in Newtons) and frozen pies.

The girls on check-out are friendly, they smile & say "thank you". Politeness and friendliness cost nothing, but do result in repeat patronage.

The bakery next to Ajay's is also good, as is the little fruit & veg shack just along from it on the corner of the road (track?) back to the main road. AND they don't appear to overcharge, and it's far more salubrious than stinking Mapusa market.

Hooray for this little corner of Mapusa ....you can keep the rest!