古巴开办第一个批发市场

（单词翻译）

AS IT IS 2016-07-20 Cuba Opens First Private Wholesale¹ Store 古巴开办第一个批发市场

Cuba's new entrepreneurs have complained that one of the things missing from President Raul Castro’s reforms is a wholesale market.

Currently, restaurant owners, hairdressers and snack-store owners have to buy their products in supermarkets at the same high prices as everyday consumers.

But one store may show that change is coming to Cuba.

At Zona+, produce is piled high up to the ceiling, like in a warehouse². Shop employees say the plan is eventually to sell everything in large amounts at discounted rates. They want to focus specifically on giving discounts to small businesses.

So far, Zona+ is offering only a few goods in bulk for reduced prices. But shoppers at Zona+ said it already has an advantage because it has more items than other stores in Cuba. Usually Cuba's supermarkets are half-empty.

Officials at CIMEX, the state commercial corporation that owns Zona+, declined to comment.

Last April, the Cuban government announced that some small companies would be able to buy supplies directly from government producers and wholesale outlets³ for the first time. However, this announcement did not say whether the reform would extend to the private sector⁴.

Cuba often likes to experiment with ideas before making them official and extending them across the country. Reforms can also be reversed.

Words in This Story

entrepreneur – n. a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money

wholesale – n. the business of selling things in large amounts to other businesses rather than to individual customers

in bulk – n. in large quantities

advantage – n. something (such as a good position or condition) that helps to make someone or something better or more likely to succeed than others

declined – v. to say that you will not or cannot do something

private sector – n. the part of an economy which is not controlled or owned by the government

reversed – v. to change your decision or opinion about something