For some time now, there has been an Ethiopian shop on the Geldropseweg. People from Ethiopia and Eritrea living in and around Eindhoven can buy goods from their native countries, as well as pop in for a game of Ethiopian billiards.
“Dutch people carry thier children in front of them”, says shopkeeper Abrham Bielom when he demonstrates a traditional Ethiopian baby carrier. “In Eritrea and Ethiopia we carry babies on our backs, to keep our hands free.”
The shop also sells other goods, woven baskets for food storage, but also cups and plates, certain foods and drinks, as well as Christian decorations.
Ethiopian billiards
Bielom’s biggest source of pride is not visible from the outside. In the back he has a billiards table, for a game of Ethiopian billiards. The balls are not shot with a cue but rolled from the hand. The object of the game is to overturn the Ludo-like pawns standing in the centre of the table.
Den Bosch and Maastricht
“I now have a clientele of some two hundred people”, Bielom says. But people come from further away to play billiards. “This is the only biljardo in Eindhoven. Popel come from Boxtel and Veghel, even from Den Bosch and Maastricht”, Bielom says.
Growth
If it is up to Bielom, his store will grow in the future. “It is not always easy, with a foreign language and foreign people. But I do want the business to grow, This is only the beginning”.
