Mennonite WalMart
Farmer's Trading Center
The World's Meeting Place
Located right on the main road of Spanish Lookout, in the middle of the business district, is Farmer's Trading Center, one of the country's biggest hardware retail, one of the biggest retail supermarkets, possibly the second biggest building in the country in which to find and meet people from all over the world, and perhaps the only place in Central America where you may see different types of Mennonites on a single day, both locals and outsiders.
Owned by the community and visited by the whole country, it is jokingly called the Mennonite Wal-Mart by citizens and tourists alike. Sort of like a Co-op, it also serves as the credit union of Spanish Lookout members, and issues its own coupon type of checks which again is only used between community members, not necessarily taxpayers.
Type of Store:
It is far from Wal-Mart in the range of products it sells. While the grocery and dry goods department carries foods, textiles, medicine, toys, etc. it does not carry quite a number of items that would be offensive to the religious and conservative members of the Mennonite community. Below is a list of items NOT found on its shelves:
Hair dye
Jewelry: both real and artificial
Condoms
Name brand cosmetics
Books with fairy tales, magic, and cartoon characters
Toys depicting cartoon characters or other animated TV figures
TV's, radios, recorders, and certain remote control toys
Realistic toy guns, toy swords, and other military toys
Name brand shirts or jackets for men, only plain
Dummies to display and advertise clothes
Swimwear for women, either modest or explicit
Certain female articles such as bikinis, fashion undergarments, fitness wear, gym clothes
Female pants whether short or long, baby or adult, except for certain undergarments
Certain energy drinks like Monster, Blaze, Red Bull, etc.
Over the counter drugs related to sexual matters
NO alcoholic drinks and cigarrettes of course
Ladies style footwear such as cowboy boots, winter boots, high heels
Barbie dolls
Popularity:
As mentioned earlier, FTC is the place to meet Mennonites and other people from across the globe. Visiting Mennonites, local or foreign, are bound to pay a visit sooner or later. Other religions seen inside its walls are Buddhists, Jews, Moslems, Hindu, Rastafari, JW's, Shinto, Anglican, Catholic, Greek Orthodox and a host of others. Visitors may be from across the border or from Saudi Arabia. They may be dressed in traditional full length Nigerian clothing or in practically naked European summer attire. They include quiet older couples looking to retire or boisterous men running from the law in their home country.
Unbelievable as it may sound, yet an employee provided proof of the different nationalities he had met. When counted, it was a total of 82 countries from all continents, over a span of 8 years. Wow.
However an intriguing fact is that despite hundreds of daily visitors\customers, there is only ONE toilet stall for the men and ONE for the women and even more interesting, the outhouse is out on the parking yard. Now and then minor repairs are done on the old toilets.
Note: These pictures were snapped on a very slow day.
Located right on the main road of Spanish Lookout, in the middle of the business district, is Farmer's Trading Center, one of the country's biggest hardware retail, one of the biggest retail supermarkets, possibly the second biggest building in the country in which to find and meet people from all over the world, and perhaps the only place in Central America where you may see different types of Mennonites on a single day, both locals and outsiders.
Owned by the community and visited by the whole country, it is jokingly called the Mennonite Wal-Mart by citizens and tourists alike. Sort of like a Co-op, it also serves as the credit union of Spanish Lookout members, and issues its own coupon type of checks which again is only used between community members, not necessarily taxpayers.
It is far from Wal-Mart in the range of products it sells. While the grocery and dry goods department carries foods, textiles, medicine, toys, etc. it does not carry quite a number of items that would be offensive to the religious and conservative members of the Mennonite community. Below is a list of items NOT found on its shelves:
Hair dye
Jewelry: both real and artificial
Condoms
Name brand cosmetics
Books with fairy tales, magic, and cartoon characters
Toys depicting cartoon characters or other animated TV figures
TV's, radios, recorders, and certain remote control toys
Realistic toy guns, toy swords, and other military toys
Name brand shirts or jackets for men, only plain
Dummies to display and advertise clothes
Swimwear for women, either modest or explicit
Certain female articles such as bikinis, fashion undergarments, fitness wear, gym clothes
Female pants whether short or long, baby or adult, except for certain undergarments
Certain energy drinks like Monster, Blaze, Red Bull, etc.
Over the counter drugs related to sexual matters
NO alcoholic drinks and cigarrettes of course
Ladies style footwear such as cowboy boots, winter boots, high heels
Barbie dolls
Popularity:
As mentioned earlier, FTC is the place to meet Mennonites and other people from across the globe. Visiting Mennonites, local or foreign, are bound to pay a visit sooner or later. Other religions seen inside its walls are Buddhists, Jews, Moslems, Hindu, Rastafari, JW's, Shinto, Anglican, Catholic, Greek Orthodox and a host of others. Visitors may be from across the border or from Saudi Arabia. They may be dressed in traditional full length Nigerian clothing or in practically naked European summer attire. They include quiet older couples looking to retire or boisterous men running from the law in their home country.
Unbelievable as it may sound, yet an employee provided proof of the different nationalities he had met. When counted, it was a total of 82 countries from all continents, over a span of 8 years. Wow.
However an intriguing fact is that despite hundreds of daily visitors\customers, there is only ONE toilet stall for the men and ONE for the women and even more interesting, the outhouse is out on the parking yard. Now and then minor repairs are done on the old toilets.
Note: These pictures were snapped on a very slow day.
