Ikra General Store

The shop is on Bali Hospital Road, so we get a lot of different people coming through. Some are visiting patients and need things like fruit juice or biscuits, while others are just locals from the street picking up detergent or matches. I try to keep a bit of everything because you never know what someone might ask for. It’s a general store in the truest sense, with everything from pens and notebooks to small toys for kids. The space is a bit tight, and I’ve got things hanging from the ceiling just to make more room on the floor. It gets quite busy when the hospital visiting hours start, and sometimes I can barely keep up with giving change. I’ve been here for a while, and I know most of the faces that pass by every day. The road can be a bit loud with the ambulances and the horns, but you get used to it after a week or two. I usually sit on a wooden stool near the door so I can see people coming. There’s no air conditioning, just the breeze if we’re lucky, and a small TV in the corner that I watch when the store is empty. It’s just a basic shop where we try to have what people need so they don’t have to go all the way to the main market. Sometimes the supply truck arrives late and I have to stay to unload everything.