4 ?s: Soda Stream Canisters, Dollar Stores, Banking, & Car Rentals

Hi there,


I just relocated to Mauritius and have 4 questions.


1) Would anyone have advice about how to purchase refills for Soda Streams in Mauritius?  (CO2 canisters).  I brought mine and just moved here and would love to find a store where it is in stock.  I have done some searches online with places like Urban Home and Courts Mammoth, but I have no idea where to check. 


2) Does Mauritius have any "dollar stores" where things are sold cheaply?  I am looking for some basic apartment supplies- like coat hangers- but I do not need anything fancy at all.  (I am in the Moka/Ebene area).  (I am aware of Super U, which sort of feels like a Walmart to me, and also the markets where they do sometimes sell small amounts of items for cheaper than regular stores, but really looking for actual "dollar" (or "40-50 rs") stores.


3) For Banking, several colleagues recommended ABSA premier banking (I believe- something like that, and it has a charge of 450 RS a month).  But HSBC is a more international bank, so I was curious the pros and cons- I am happy having several bank accounts but if there are fees to close the account, or monthly maintenance fees, it seems doing due diligence up front is important.


4) I have emailed a number of car rental places from the expat.com car rental listings for Mauritius.  I am getting a lot of high quotes- much higher than my Mauritian colleagues.  One of them is willing to help me find a car and negotiate rates, but I am still trying to short list the car rental companies since there are literally over a hundred listed for Mauritius.  I am in Moka/Ebene but happy to rent anywhere on the island that has affordable rates (under 20K rs a month) as I will be away from Mauritius on work for a good percentage of the year and do not need a new or fancy vehicle.  (Safe, yes!). Looking for monthly rental rates for 11-12 months. 


Thank you everyone!

MC

@macaDive Hi, for cheap household store you can try Manjoo. Every mauritian knows it. They have branches in each city even Bagattele.


For car rental, I'm in the same shoes like you. I got offer of 900Rs per day but not every time when I come back it's available. Sometimes I get car for 1000 a day or even 1100 a day. They told me if I tent for 3 months the rate is 800 per day.


For banking MCB is really good. You pay 100rs per month for a platinum card package and you have your account manager. That means you don't have to follow the que and save lots of time.

Hi Macadive,


it looks like there is no company appointed as official importer or reseller of Soda Stream branded products in Mauritius,


instead they are only listed on eCommerce sites like ubuy dot mu and weshare dot mu


here are some recent adds if the links do not get blocked:


www dot ubuy dot mu /en/search/?ref_p=ser_tp&q=soda+stream&sort_by=price-asc-rank



weshare dot mu /en/offers?category=&text=soda+stream&region=&district=&price%5Bmin%5D=&price%5Bmax%5D=

Hi there,
I just relocated to Mauritius
MC
-@macaDive

Hello @macaDive, I do not mean to pry into your personal affairs but having Mauritius as a home base and flying in and out of the country sounds like a great situation.  From an expat standpoint, earning currency outside of Mauritius and spending that in Mauritius seems to be an obvious win-win for everyone.


Is there a particular niche that expats fill in Mauritius?  And how do they succeed in getting in a similar gig?  Do you know whether the independent consulting route is better in Mauritius?  Or working for a big international firm the best path?


I think that if you have enough material to share on the matter, this could be a expat.com topic on its own....


I know that remote work is one of the ways to work while on the beach.  This is my current pre-retirement or never retire plan.  Would love to know other possibilities....


Thank you.

@macaDive Sodastream refills are available in supermarkets (I have seen them in Super U), they seem to come in and out of stock. I bought my machine and spare bottle from Zilo Water. I am sure they offer refills.

@Expat Ash Thank you so much- I see Zilo does sell the canisters, but they are out of stock.  They have a list of sellers in the country (including all 7 places I have checked with) but many of those places told me they do not sell them.  But I have emailed Zilo and appreciate the guidance there!

@prospectorland Thanks for the question.  This is a bit of a longer topic, and I do think my situation is unique and my educational/professional background perhaps atypical.  I am working for a company that has an office in Mauritius.

@Ceresiet Many thanks- I was not aware of such internet sites!

@shen wei @shen wei @shen wei Thank you!  I did go to Manjoo and am happy to know about it!  Yes, the car rental situation is challenging- thank you for the notes on the quotes you have received.  And very helpful to know that MCB's Platinum Card package.  100 rs is much cheaper than the 450 rs ABSA premier banking and HSBC's 230 rs fee for their managed accounts.

@prospectorland Thanks for the question. This is a bit of a longer topic, and I do think my situation is unique and my educational/professional background perhaps atypical. I am working for a company that has an office in Mauritius.
-@macaDive

As a Mauritian, I left the country because I could not get into the field that I was interested in.  Now, I am such a super-specialist that no-one in Mauritius would hire me - but remote work for a US company is very possible.  You seem to have found a special niche in an international company.   Expats would be very interested in your story - I sure am... Hope to hear your story either on the forum or at an expat.com in person event.  Thank you.  Happy and safe travels.

MCB does not charge me anything for basic accounts.


Dollar shop - there is  cheap store at Grand Baie on top of Super U. Great for all sorts of things.