Going bananas in the Baltics

My first visit to Latvia in the Spring of 1993 coincided with the arrival of an abundance of bananas in Riga.

Up to then they had been the preserve of an elite few; now everybody could buy them, and they did! It is the first time that I have thanked my host with a bunch of bananas as well as the usual flowers.

My most recent arrival there coincided with the opening of the first Lidl stores in Latvia (pictured). Some people starting to queue 24 hours before the official opening! One of their opening offers was on bananas: 29c a kilo. One major competitor immediately dropped their price to 39c a kilo, and the other marked their price down to 29c as a price match.