Madam Agnes Adwoa Noah owns and runs a grocery shop in her house at Daavi Junction, a suburb of Amasaman in Accra. The name of her shop is “People’s mother shop”. According to Agnes, she established the shop in 2016 with the help of her husband. People’s mother shop is stocked with a variety of food items such as rice, bread, canned fish, milk, tomato paste, biscuits, sachet water, and stationery. 

Agnes is 60 years old. She has four children all of whom have attained education to the tertiary level. According to Agnes, her husband is very helpful with keeping the shop when she is away or with serving customers when it gets busy. Agnes usually buys the stuff in bulk from Accra. However, when she’s in urgent need of something, she buys from the neighbouring shops that sell slightly higher than the wholesale prices in Accra. People’s mother shop is opened from 6:00 am and closes at 9:00 pm every day. Agnes noted that because the shop is in her house, people often come to buy even when she has closed. This she said has been worrying because sometimes she would be sleeping and customers will be disturbing her sleep.

Agnes said she has attracted a lot of customers due to the way she relates with them. “I treat my customers with love and respect all the time. Even when their money is not sufficient for an item, I am able to give them what they need and collect the money later. The only problem is that some of them will not pay on time for me to use the money to buy more things for the shop.”

On a normal day, Agnes sells about 10 loaves of bread and 15 pieces of “Fante kenkey”. Agnes sells fried fish in addition to the kenkey. According to her, hungry customers ate the kenkey with fish right there without taking it to their homes. Agnes makes sure to keep all the foodstuffs in a hygienic condition. In her shop, she keeps food items in a glass showcase to keep flies and dirt particles from entering the food. For her, serving her customers with quality is her passion.